Page 53 of The Poet Empress
We got to our feet again, but still Terren did not look at me. It was like he was afraid someone would hurt him, if he took his eyes off the rug even once.
“You may now begin the service of tea,” said the minister. “To Chancellor Inly, who will act for His Majesty the Yongkai Emperor. To Her Majesty Empress Sun. Together they will bless the union of the Inner and Outer Courts—and, on behalf of all those who have come before, make the marriage official.”
Servants came forward to bring us teacups on plates, decorated with lacquered red and shimmering gold. I took a plate in my hand, and so did Terren. The tea was scented softly with jasmine and lotus seeds, and steamed through the lid.
Not far from us, a pale and fragile-looking eunuch—the chancellor— was seated next to the empress. I knelt on the snow-coated carpet beforethem. Terren hesitated a moment longer, the Aricine Ward flickering fast. Then he took his place stiffly beside me.
I held myself very, very still. We had not been this close since the night of the rumors, so close I could feel the warmth radiating from his body. I was terrified that if I took a wrong breath, I might accidentally touch him.
He was still not looking at me, but the empress was. As I met her eyes, she gave me the smallest of private smiles.Girls like you,it said,they never survive long in the palace.
She was planning something.
My heart thumped even faster. It suddenly made sense why she had not antagonized me as of late; she must have been waiting for the right opportunity. A wedding in front of the Great Clans and thousands of important guests? It would be the perfect moment for her to strike at both me and Terren.
Terren served the chancellor first, looking like he would rather swallow poison than be this close to me, kneeling for someone else. I raised my own plate towards the empress. She did not reach for the cup. Instead, with one sweeping motion, she brushed the entire plate with a golden sleeve—sending the porcelain set shattering onto the ground next to us.
I would have flinched, had I not been trying so hard to not move.
“I wish I could bless the marriage,” she said, standing. “But unfortunately, there is a matter to settle first.”
Terren seemed just as caught off guard as I was. His eyes flicked to the empress, and in them I saw the murderous intent of a pit viper. “Sun Ai. You are ruining my happy day.”
“On the contrary, my dear. I am only trying to look out for you. It is my duty as Mother of the House to ensure the integrity of the Inner Court. Every report must be thoroughly investigated—including the one I am about to bring to your attention.”
He rose to meet her gaze. “You might have had the courtesy to investigate beforehand. In private.”
“There was no time, I’m afraid. I only received it this morning.” A twitch of a smile laid bare her lie, but only to those close enough to catch it.
“Then it can wait until after.”
“It cannot. It concerns your bride, and therefore the sanctity of your marriage.”
My throat became dry. I could almost touch the tension in the air, feel the silence that rose from the crowd of thousands to greet the falling snow.
The look on Terren’s face, it was like he was going to kill the empress, right there and then.
But he wouldn’t,I thought. Not without a reason, so publicly, on such an auspicious day. That would turn all of Tensha against him. The empress seemed to know it too, because her posture was smug and unconcerned.
“Guards,” she said. “Bring in the witness.”
Two Azalea guards led a terrified maid up the stairs, skinny and no older than thirteen.
“This is one of the maids in the West Palace. She came running to me right before the wedding, poor anxious dear.” The empress turned to the girl. “Maya, would you like to repeat to everyone what you told me?”
There were tears in Maya’s eyes and all over her cheeks. She fell onto her knees on the top step to face the crowd of bannermen below. “I… I saw Lady Yin going… going…”
“Louder,” said the empress, sweetly. “So that the whole hall can hear.”
“I saw her going to the West Palace,” she cried. “At night. Alone. Dressed in nothing but bedrobes.”
33SUSPICION
Bedrobes.
For a long time, I could only stare at the maid, uncomprehending. I had no idea where the lie could have even come from.
I had only gone to the West Palace once, to obtain Maro’s journals, but that had been in secret. And even if someonehadseen me, I had not been wearing anything near so dishonorable.
