Chapter Two hundred nine (Patreon)

Lianhua was exhausted. Not physically, but emotionally. How long had she been waiting, so close and yet so terribly far from her goal? Lifting her teacup to her lips, she gave the queen of Holiander a small, sympathetic smile.

“I’m so terribly sorry to hear that your daughter is missing,” she told the woman. “And of course I understand why you and his Majesty have gone so far as to send soldiers out to arrest someone you welcomed as a guest of your kingdom.”

Queen Natalia flinched ever so slightly, and Lianhua felt a bit sorry for her. The woman was clearly suffering, with dark purple circles beneath her eyes that hadn’t been there when Lianhua first visited. Then, the queen had been a gay, joyful butterfly, flitting from party to party.

“Ah, yes,” Natalia said with a pained smile. “That was a terrible misunderstanding. Our Guard was only supposed to arrest young Grafton, not your entire party. They were only supposed to provide you with an escort, so you could reach Cliffcross with the greatest speed and in the greatest comfort possible. We were terribly disappointed to learn that you felt it necessary to hire a guide and leave for Scarabus without waiting for Lord Hartton. Especially since you left so… abruptly.”

It was Lianhua’s turn to flinch, though she kept hers inside, as her grandmother had taught her. Her hand never wavered as she set her teacup on its saucer. “We did try to convey the urgency of the matter we were pursuing,” she said carefully, “but Lord Hartton felt that the Tournament required all of his time and resources. As such, we were forced to take matters into our own hands. It’s quite unfortunate that our departure coincided so closely with Reina’s disappearance.”

Their departure in what could be considered the middle of the night for most of the nobility in Holiander. The nobles partied until well after midnight, then returned home and slept until noon before going shopping or receiving guests. Lianhua had no idea when they managed to get anything done. When Gaoda insisted they depart at dawn, no one but the servants had even been awake. He had been angry at their indolence, and insulted by their continued polite refusal to treat him with as much respect as they gave Lianhua.

Natalia’s lips pinched. “Are you quite certain that Grafton was with you the entire time? He never left while you were resting, perhaps?”

“Quite,” Lianhua put as much finality into that word as she could. “As I said,” a hundred times, “my bodyguard, Chi Yincang, requires very little sleep, and he watches over us at all times. When he did sleep, Lord Gaoda or I were awake. There’s no way Raff - Lord Grafton - could have gone anywhere without one or more of us being aware of it. Indeed, he’s quite trustworthy and dependable, and never even attempted to leave. He certainly never had the opportunity to abduct - or help his sister abduct - a princess.”

“That’s a relief,” a smooth voice interjected, causing both women to turn and look at the young man who had just entered. He was the husband of Holiander’s eldest princess, and Lianhua remembered having met him at a party when she first arrived. She hadn’t cared for him then, and he hadn’t improved upon greater acquaintance.

Baron Ruben was married to Queen Natalia and King Maleim’s oldest daughter, Isabel. The girl herself was pleasant enough, and also not, technically, a girl, being at least a few years older than Lianhua herself. Still, she acted as if there was nothing in her head but feathers, which Lianhua might have considered a very effective method of causing people to underestimate her, except that her fluff-headedness seemed entirely genuine.

“Ah, Ruben,” Natalia said, setting down her cup and gathering her skirts, which occupied an entire couch by themselves. “I’m so glad to see you. Did you… find anything?” She didn’t look at Lianhua, but that made her meaning no less obvious.

The baron’s thick brows lowered over his long nose as he attempted to make an expression that was more sympathetic than disdainful. “Indeed not, your Majesty,” he said, bowing over Queen Natalia’s proffered hand. “Things are much as they have been. But I did arrange for Lady Lianhua to be reunited with her maid.”

He pronounced Lianhua’s name as if it had only two syllables, not three, and didn’t bother to glance at her as he spoke. Still, his words were the most welcome ones she’d heard since arriving in this prison masquerading as a visiting room.

She forced her voice to remain calm as she said, “Ah, Yingtao is well, then? And she still has all of my possessions?”

A wave of black anger rolled over the room at the words, coming from the corner where Chi Yingcang stood, arms crossed over his chest and his black eyes fixed on Lianhua. He had remained silent but visible since their arrival, simply exuding menace any time anyone came too close to Lianhua or attempted to separate them.

She was actually surprised when Baron Ruben didn’t seem to respond to the pressure of that anger, though Queen Natalia certainly did. The nobleman simply stood, holding the queen’s hand for a blatantly inappropriate length of time, while the queen herself paled and her fingers trembled in his.

“O- of course,” Natalia said, a bead of sweat trickling from under her golden wig. “When we started looking for Reina, and our attention turned to Jeanne and her brother, we found that you had been forced to leave your servant behind with a common healer. We immediately had her and all of your things brought here, so we could be certain she received the best of care, and was, ah, available when you returned.”

The room actually seemed to darken this time, and Lianhua thought she could hear Chi Yincang’s teeth grinding from her place on the delicate brocade chaise. The man was disciplined to the point of seeming inhuman, except when it came to one thing. That thing was his younger half-sister, Yingtao. As unhappy as Lianhua had been to leave her friend behind, Chi Yincang never would have done so if not for his unshakeable loyalty to Lianhua’s grandfather.

Lianhua took another tiny sip of her tea, still cautious in spite of the fact that she’d insisted upon using one of her own cups, claiming that she preferred the thin, lightweight style of Imperial porcelain to the heavier Holiander vessels. This was incredibly rude, but they’d been rude first, and all of Lianhua’s cups had cleansing runes embossed on them, making sure the contents were free of poisons, sedatives, or other impurities.

With slow deliberation, she turned and held out her cup to Chi Yincang. He glided forward, all dark threat and deadly competence, and accepted it, returning it to its place in his inventory. Lianhua held out her hand, and he took it, pretending to help her to her feet, though she needed no such assistance, since her robes were made for comfort, not pretension. Or at least not just pretension.

Sliding her fingers gracefully from Chi Yincang’s cool grasp, Lianhua turned to Baron Ruben. “You may show me to my rooms,” she said. “I expect Yingtao and my items will be waiting for me there.”

Almost reluctantly, Ruben dropped his mother-in-law’s hand at last, and smiled at Lianhua instead. Thanks to the time she’d spent among kobolds, and especially Kaz’s tutoring, she noticed that while his  lips stretched, not a hint of tooth gleamed between them.

“Unfortunately, I must attend to other matters, but Lord Demetri will escort you, and arrange for an honor guard outside your rooms. I trust you remember Lord Demetri?” he asked, waving her toward the ornate oak door through which he’d entered.

Lianhua barely managed not to roll her eyes. How could she forget the officious officer who’d shown up to ‘escort’ her from the gate to the palace? He’d made it abundantly clear that he suspected she was an accomplice to the dastardly Lord Grafton, and if he could have locked her up in irons, he would have done so.

She barely managed not to lift her hand to touch her throat, where the scars from Zhangwo’s claws still lingered. No one would ever lock her up again, especially not in a country where they depended on physical force and rote spells for everything. So long as they couldn’t block her ki, she had confidence that she could defeat even their greatest mage, and Chi Yincang could beat their greatest warrior. She was not helpless, not trapped, no matter how much they might like her to feel that way.

With a nod that barely skirted incivility, Lianhua turned away from both Ruben and Queen Natalia. She almost regretted her action when she remembered that the queen was acting this way out of concern for her daughter, but only almost.

Chi Yincang ignored the expressionless servant by the door, opening it himself, then stepping out into the hall. After a moment, he gestured for Lianhua to exit as well, which she did. The middle-aged guard who’d been waiting in the hall, Lord Demetri, was forced to hurry in order to keep up as Lianhua strode off down the hall. She was walking at a pace a Holiander lady couldn’t have managed in their many layers of skirts, but she didn’t care if these people saw her as uncouth. She wanted to see Yingtao!

After a moment, Lord Demetri cleared his throat and said, “Your, ah, rooms are the other way, Lady Lianhua.” He almost sounded respectful, and Lianhua felt a hot blush rise in her cheeks.

Cursing her fair skin, Lianhua lifted her chin and said, “This is the direction to the rooms I occupied last time.”

They came to a halt in the middle of the hall, and with Lianhua, Chi Yincang, Demetri, and four helmeted and thus faceless Royal Guards, they were a large enough group that everyone else around had to circle wide to avoid them. Lianhua’s blush deepened, but she ignored it as she stared into the man’s brown eyes.

“His Majesty felt that you deserved better accommodations, Lady. You’ve been given one of the private wings for the duration of your visit.”

Last time, Lianhua had been given luxurious rooms only a short distance from the royal family’s private quarters. While they had no unmarried sons to parade before her, several nephews, cousins, and ‘dear friends’ sons’ had been at every tea or dinner party she’d attended. Obviously, this time the emphasis was to be on keeping her separate from the rest of the household, not encouraging her to become part of it.

“Show me,” she said, voice nearly cold enough to freeze ice.

He did, and she was right, it was much further than her previous rooms, down a winding hallway that felt almost disused. It was as meticulously clean as the rest of the palace, but the paint and decor were more tasteful and far less garish than Lianhua had come to expect. She even saw a few vases she was fairly certain were relics of the Diushi empire, still in use and holding arrangements of fresh flowers.

When they arrived, the four guards settled into place, two on each side of the door. They said nothing, and the eyes within the shadowy depths of their helmets were fixed straight ahead, so Lianhua ignored them as she turned to Lord Demetri.

“I shall take my meals in my rooms today,” she said, forestalling his attempt to speak. A look of relief crossed his face, and she was nearly certain he’d been about to offer some excuse why she should remain where he’d put her.

“But,” she continued without pause, “A number of people offered me invitations to visit, and now that my business is complete, I feel that it would be quite rude not to accept.” She had a sudden burst of brilliance and added, “And since we’ve returned before your grand tournament, we must remain at least long enough to witness the final battles. Your champion will fight whoever wins this year, isn’t that right? It should be quite exciting.”

Demetri’s voice was choked as he said, “I- Yes, of course, I’m sure arrangements can be made, but-”

“Good,” she said, lifting her chin so high she feared she might get a crick in her neck, “then you may go. Yingtao will bring letters for those I wish to visit. Tomorrow.”

Chi Yincang opened the door, stepped inside, waited for Lianhua to do the same, then ever so gently closed it directly in Demetri’s face. Inside, a woman waited for them. She was three years older than Lianhua, with long, dark brown hair bound back in a simple tail, much like Chi Yincang’s. Her eyes were a brilliant green, instead of dark like his, and her sage green robe seemed to swallow her too-thin frame.

Lianhua and Chi Yincang moved toward her simultaneously, but Yingtao only had eyes for one of them. She crossed to Lianhua, taking her hands in her own. Her face, which was usually serene, held the remains of a desperate worry and the beginnings of equally desperate relief.

“Lianhua,” she said, and Lianhua fell into her arms. Laying her head on Yingtao’s shoulder, she began to cry.