Sacrifice (14 page)

She slithered down the steps and cast a backward glance. Stone remained at the top, taking in the unearthly views, his expression uncertain. She could read him as easily now as she had Zhen Ni. “Do I need to drag you from this place?” she asked, then shifted back into a girl.

He ran down the steps, speaking a spell. “At least I can still clothe you.” His tone was sarcastic as he thrust out his hand to offer her the beautiful pale peach paneled dress he had conjured, head turned so he could not look at her.

Stone’s new discomfort with her naked body made Skybright feel modest, and she quickly pulled her clothes on.

“I had not seen you change into serpent form,” he said.

“No,” she replied. “You were already falling to the ground by then.” She had an alarming thought. “Am I safe here in my demonic form?”

“You are safe.” He glanced at her; then his eyes flicked away, as if unable to hold her gaze. “You are a creation of the gods, after all.” Stone gave her a sardonic smile, one that conflicted with his tangible grief. She felt it strongly even in her mortal form. “We all are,” he said in a low voice. “They give, and they can take away.”

She almost felt sorry for him. “Do you know how to fix this—close the breach?”

“I will fix it. I have no choice.” He walked past her, giving wide berth as if afraid over the notion that their sleeves might touch. “I want to live.”

Skybright walked beside him but with much more space between them. She sensed that she made Stone uncomfortable in a way he had never felt before. It was puzzling, but she didn’t dwell on it, as she concentrated on keeping up with his long strides.

As they walked, Stone kept conjuring various objects: apples, a wine jug, tunics, a dagger, and inexplicably a duck. The duck stared at Stone for a moment before flapping from his hands and waddling off. Skybright burst into laughter.

“Just testing my magic—what’s left of it,” Stone said, looking sheepish.

“Your conjuring ability is impressive.”

He shook his head in frustration. “It’s mostly useless to me in a fight.” He manifested a painted silk fan and a ruby necklace, then let those drop along the path.
Zhen Ni would have loved both items
, Skybright thought with a faint smile.

He paused and seemed to be staring at a large rock beneath a cherry tree in the distance. It tumbled a few times toward them, as if light enough to be stirred by the wind. Stone let out a low whistle. “Earth,” he said.

She gave him a questioning look.

“My ability was always strongest with the earth element; Stone was the name given to me by the Immortals. I still feel it, the earth magic, all around me. Not as potent as before, but—” He narrowed his eyes, and the large rock rolled several rotations before actually jumping straight into the air, then crashing to the dirt again.

“Do you think the Goddess of Accord intended it—for you to have kept your earth magic?”

Stone chuckled, his wry amusement a sharp scent in the Immortals’ fragrant garden. “It’s impossible to try and guess a goddess’s intentions. She does want me to close the breach. I’d be useless without some magic to aid me.”

They walked on, and he continued to gauge his power, so a rubble of rocks in various sizes trailed them, like strange pets. Finally, they reached the wall of the garden. A nondescript wooden door was set in its side, no taller than Stone himself. He pulled the dull brass circle in the middle, and the door creaked open.

They stepped through, and the door thudded shut behind them. Skybright stopped short, letting out a cry. They were on a narrow ledge high in the sky; pale blue stone steps led down into a blanket of white clouds below. She wrapped her arms around herself, deathly afraid of plunging over the edge. “We are not jumping like we did into the lake,” she said. “I’ll knock you unconscious first.”

Stone smiled. “No jumping this time.” He paused, his face becoming thoughtful. “Besides, I’m not certain I’d survive that any longer. We simply need to walk down the steps.”

“Where do they lead? We are in the heavens!” The steps had no railing on either side and were just wide enough for one person to descend at a time. She really would plunge to her death.

“They lead to where you’d like to go,” he replied. “Trust me.”

She laughed, and it was harsh in her ears. “I have no choice but to believe what you say, Stone. But I will never trust you.”

He spun around so they faced each other. She almost jerked her hands forward to steady him. Quickly, she clasped them in front of her, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Because she stood one step above him, they were almost eye level. Still, Stone was taller.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

He spoke in earnest, lacking the detached arrogance that had become so familiar. And in truth, she had never known him to tell her a lie. Until today. “You said you would take me as the sacrifice to close the breach to the underworld. You deceived all of us.”

He turned to go down the steps but not before she saw him blanch, so obvious now in his tanned face and very human tells. “I did not lie. The breach closed. We both saw it with our eyes. Something else is going on—and I’ll find the cause behind it.” Stone continued down the steps, assured in his stride, and she trailed behind him with care into the opaque clouds below.

Zhen Ni

Rose finally returned to Zhen Ni’s quarters as she was finishing off her orange slices. She had eaten everything on the lacquered tray, having had very little at the wedding banquet the night before. She’d been too anxious and felt ill the entire evening.
Ah, the glamorous banquet night of a new bride
, she thought, and snorted beneath her breath.

“Lady,” Rose said, interrupting her thoughts. “I came earlier this morning but your quarters were empty.”

She smiled at her handmaid, fifteen years and very kind and devoted. But not at all fun as Skybright had been, willing to conspire with her and break rules. “I was out for an early morning walk and became lost. But Master Bei found me and led me back.”

Rose actually blushed. Zhen Ni knew what the girl was thinking and how far off from the truth she was. “Can you dress me? I’d like to begin interviewing and hiring for new staff today.” As Lady Bei, it was up to Zhen Ni to see to the smooth running of an entire household, as her mother had done all these years at Yuan manor.

“Of course, lady. The notices have been posted around town, but everyone already knows that the new Lady Bei is hiring for the most opulent manor in Chang He!” Rose led her back into her bedchamber, throwing a glance at the barely rumpled marriage bed. “Shall it be the deep pink dress today, lady? It complements your complexion so.”

Zhen Ni waved her hand, not really caring. Then as an afterthought, “Do we have guards securing the manor, Rose? The estate is so large.”

“Yes. I have seen some guards on the grounds, lady,” Rose said as she undressed Zhen Ni. The handmaid carefully bound Zhen Ni’s breasts with a white silk binder, and Zhen Ni had to resist fidgeting before Rose slipped the tunic over her head. The silk whispered over Zhen Ni’s skin, cool as a spring morning. “Oafish looking men.” Rose shivered as she helped Zhen Ni into her skirt. “I came across one lurking in the outer garden. He said that Master Bei had asked them to make certain you are safe in the manor as he is away for business.”

“Thank you, Rose,” Zhen Ni said. “It is good to know that we are protected. It wouldn’t do if there were just a cook, two handmaids, and me, would it?”

Her husband had not bothered to tell her that he would be away, only that he would not be coming to the marriage bed. Bless the goddess for brutish guards who loved to divulge household gossip to pretty handmaids in an attempt to impress them.

Rose began drawing her hair up in elaborate loops, as befitting a wealthy lady of the manor instead of the more modest hairstyles for an unmarried maiden.

“No,” Zhen Ni said. “Plait my hair and pin it close to my head. There is much to accomplish today, better to keep it more practical.”

“Of course, lady.”

It was only an excuse. Zhen Ni was glad she had kept the gray tunic and trousers she had stolen from one of the handmaids for her excursion with Kai Sen. It would be perfect for exploring what was beneath the secret door in her husband’s unfurnished study before his return. Was it simply a place for him to hide things, or did it actually lead somewhere beneath the manor?

Rose had just rubbed gardenia perfume into Zhen Ni’s wrists and at the hollow of her throat when Oriole tapped on the lattice door before peering into the bedchamber. “A Master Jin is here to see you, Lady Bei.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “I know no Master Jin.”

“He says he is the master carpenter of the manor and wished to speak with you privately. He said it was of matters most urgent.”

Zhen Ni gave her reflection one last quick inspection in the bronzed mirror. “Very well, Oriole. Please show him into the main hall and bring some tea and sliced fruit. I’ll be there shortly.”

Oriole inclined her head. “Yes, lady.”

“Rose, the jade and ruby hairpin, please. I was not expecting a guest today.”

Her handmaid stuck the expensive pin into her locks, making it look like a light green bird nestled among winterberries. Zhen Ni pinched her cheeks and nodded. “I believe I am ready to receive my first guest as the lady of the manor.”

Rose led her from one courtyard to the next until they reached the main hall. The lattice doors carved with fish for good fortune had been drawn open, letting in the fresh air and sunshine of a beautiful spring morning. The main hall had been furnished in impeccable style, with six carved chairs placed in pairs of twos—one set facing the open courtyard, and the other two sets facing each other to create an intimate space for conversation.

The master carpenter sat in a chair facing the courtyard, and he twisted a cap in his large hands, obviously nervous. A long ancestor table was pushed against the back wall and was curiously empty. No paintings of ancestors adorned it; no offerings of fruit—not even a stick of incense to light for her husband’s loved ones who had died.

Zhen Ni glided into the room, holding up the panels of her dark pink skirt, before sitting down in the chair beside Master Jin. Oriole had already brought and poured the tea. A plate of sliced oranges and a large bowl of peeled lychees were set on the square inlaid table between them. “Master Jin, it is a pleasure to meet the man who helped to construct such a beautiful manor. I am indebted to you.”

The man jumped to his feet, gaping at her. He was probably near forty years, with a thick head of hair and a bushy beard peppered with gray to match. Not as broad as her husband, yet Zhen Ni could tell he was muscular beneath his dark tan tunic. “The honor and pleasure are mine, Lady Bei.” He looked as if he were ready to drop to his knees, and Zhen Ni suppressed a smile, gesturing toward the chair.

“Please do sit, Master Jin.” She took a sip of her tea. This was the first time in her life she’d ever met a man so publically in the main hall before. But she was the lady of the house now, and it was her duty to receive guests when necessary. “Would you like anything besides fruit? We are not operating as a full kitchen yet, but I’m certain that our cook could make you something if you desired it.”

“Ah, no. Thank you for your generosity, lady. I couldn’t eat.” He clamped his mouth shut, wrenching the cap in his hands even more. It would be ruined. “I heard that Master Bei would be out of town and came to speak with you alone today. I know it’s forward but—”

Curiosity piqued, Zhen Ni smiled into her teacup and demurely lowered her lashes in the hopes that she was the picture of femininity. “You may speak to me openly, Master Jin. What is troubling you?”

“The manor, your husband will not allow us to bless it,” he blurted, then drew out a handkerchief, dabbing it against his forehead, before tucking it away again. “It is unseemly. I don’t want to appear ungrateful, lady, this is the most expansive project I have ever led. The manor is magnificent, and it has been a pleasure to help build it. But you have to understand—” He held up his large hands, as if beseeching her. “When we break ground to build a new home, it is a great disturbance to nature, to the environment where the home is built. It’s essential that we placate the gods and discourage … unwanted spirits.”

Zhen Ni knew that rituals and ceremony were involved with building a new home, as with any major event, be it birth, death, or wedding. “And my husband didn’t allow you to bless Bei manor?”

The master carpenter shook his head emphatically. “He was quite adamant against it. We weren’t allowed to set off fireworks or use chicken blood to ward off evil spirits, nor offer fruit and burn incense to the Earth God. A ridgepole wasn’t even raised for the manor!” Master Jin’s lower lip actually quivered. “I didn’t want to go against Master Bei’s wishes, but I had to do something to bless this home.” The large man reached into a hidden pocket in his tunic and drew out two coins. “I buried these coins in the location where the main door of the manor was to be positioned, as tradition dictated. They were above ground again the next day, as if spat out.”