The Moon in the Palace (The Empress of Bright Moon Duology) (25 page)

I was surprised to hear that. I would not mind stealing the handkerchief if it could save my life. “What do you suggest we do?”

She paced before me, her eyes thoughtful and her phoenix headdress quivering. Finally, she stopped. “Even if we wanted to, she would not leave it in the open so we could take it. I’m so sorry. I was almost certain that with the handkerchief we could destroy her. But I think I’m wrong. There is no way. If the Emperor’s brother were not dead, this would have been the downfall of Most Adored.”

“So we just let it go and watch her be crowned tomorrow?”

“I’m afraid so.” She sighed again. “Go to sleep, and get ready for tomorrow.”

Disappointed, I dragged my feet to the door. “The Emperor once asked me about his brother. He seemed to think his brother was watching him. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

She stopped me. “You didn’t mention this to me before. Tell me. What did he say?”

“He was sitting in a circle of candles. He looked afraid.” I took a deep breath. “I think he was even haunted. But I don’t understand. Why is he afraid of his brother?”

Her eyes sparked in the candlelight. “We are not supposed to gossip about this, Mei. That is why you didn’t know. The Emperor murdered his family.”

I was shocked. So the phoenix ballad was true.

“That was how he ascended to the throne,” she said. “There was a gruesome battle at the Xuanwu Gate, during which the Emperor slew his older brother, the rightful heir, and murdered his younger brother. He even enslaved their women, slaughtered the young children, imprisoned his father, Emperor Gaozu, and then proclaimed himself the One Above All.”

I stared at her. So that was the truth! “You said the Emperor slew the heir? And enslaved the women?”

“I suppose he kept Jewel for himself.” She sighed. “He was the second son, Mei. He would never have had the chance to ascend to the throne.”

I remembered what Pheasant had told me.
There was a concubine… My mother was not happy with the way he treated her…
It made sense. “And the children?”

She sighed. “The oldest was seven. The firstborn of the Li family. Seven boys and five girls. And the women, servants, courtiers who supported them…”

I shivered. I could hear the children’s screams and their small feet running, helplessly, away from the blades. I could see those small faces streaked with tears of fright and their bodies saturated in blood. And all those people… “So the Emperor believes his brother’s ghost is haunting him?”

The Noble Lady did not answer, staring at the candle’s flame. Her plump face shaking, she gripped my shoulders tightly. “Mei, I believe we just found a way to defeat Most Adored.”

There was a tremble in her voice that I never thought to hear from the Noble Lady. It was not fear. It was excitement. Her breathing quickened, and I could see how hard she was trying to control herself.

“How?”

She went to open the door and called out for her maids, who stood outside the chamber. “Prepare my lanterns.”

I swallowed, knowing where she was going. But I wanted to make sure. “Where are we going, my Noble Lady?”

She waved. “Follow me, Mei.”

I was out of breath when we reached the Emperor’s bedchamber. It looked busier than when I had left it. Shadows rushed in and out—Jewel’s servants, perhaps making the last arrangements before the coronation.

Standing near an immense kylin statue with the Noble Lady, I dabbed the perspiration off my forehead.

“All the better she’s here,” she said, waiting for a eunuch to announce her arrival.

When the Emperor was ready to see us, the Noble Lady walked into the bedchamber, and I followed. Plum and the other Talents were nowhere to be seen.

I glanced at Jewel, who sat on a stool next to the Emperor. I had not seen her lately and did not expect to see her like that. Her white hair tumbled to her chest in disarray. The peony beauty marks on her face were smudged, her lips appeared cracked, and the candlelight revealed deep lines etched around the corners of her eyes. She was wearing a long pink skirt and a white robe that looked like a nightgown. On the stool near her were the yellow regalia and a phoenix headdress she would don tomorrow.

“What is your business, Noble Lady?” the Emperor asked.

His voice sounded slurred. He was drunk, swaying, and his sword lay on the oversize bed.

The Noble Lady knelt before him. I hesitated and then knelt beside her.

“The One Above All,” she said. “Forgive me, I should not bother you at this late hour, but I fear I must speak for the interest of the Inner Court, even though I might offend the ears of our most superior.”

“Speak.”

“This spring, I went to pay my respect to our ancestors in the Altar House on the Day of Qingming,” she said. “I perhaps shouldn’t say this, but I happened to hear the prayers the Most Adored said in a corner after you left.”

I was not sure what the Noble Lady had in mind. The Day of Qingming was when people gathered their families to pay respect to the deceased. Most families went to the graves to sweep the ground, light incense, and offer fruits and meat. On that day, the Noble Lady and the other ladies had lit the incense in the Altar House after they visited Emperor Gaozu’s mausoleum, while I had offered my prayers to Father in front of the tablet I made, since I was unable to travel to Wenshui.

“What is this? It was a long time ago. Why do you bring it up?” Jewel interrupted, as if sensing something ominous. “Besides, the One Above All, I left with you. Do you recall?”

The Emperor ignored her. “If this is what you came to say, Noble Lady, I’ve heard it.”

“The One Above All, allow me to speak more. I shall not repeat the details here. I happened to hear Most Adored express her undying thoughts and affection to the deceased. But her prayer was not offered to Emperor Gaozu.”

The Emperor straightened. “To whom did she offer?”

“I’d rather not speak his name.”

“Noble Lady, I wasn’t aware you were capable of spinning vicious lies as well as silk,” Jewel said. “Do you think our most sage ruler will believe such a despicable tale?”

“The dead are powerful, Most Adored, and both you and I understand their vengeance can expel the fruit of love that we try to conceive.”

She was clever to weave the Emperor’s fear of the dead into Jewel’s tragedy. The Emperor shook slightly. Jewel rose and stepped close to the Noble Lady.

“You should watch your tongue, Noble Lady.” Her eyes narrowed, but her face was stark white.

“Alas, Most Adored, we fear them, worship them, and yet we are still unable to be rid of them.” The lady kept her perfect, serene demeanor. “And most astonishing of all, we keep a token from them, hoping to preserve a piece of the past.”

My heart stopped. It was risky. What if there was no handkerchief? What if it turned out to be a gift from the Emperor?

Her eyes pouring hatred, Jewel leaned over. “Shame on you, Noble Lady. How can you lose your sense of honor and accuse the innocent?”

The Noble Lady did not flinch. “If Most Adored claims no affection for the dead, then why have you never parted with his handkerchief?”

“Handkerchief?” Jewel faltered. “How…how…”

“What handkerchief?” The Emperor shot to his feet.

Jewel stepped back, her hands clutching her gown. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

“Where is the handkerchief? Give it to me.”

Jewel looked as if she was going to flee. The Emperor grabbed her. “Where is it?”

Before I realized what was going to happen, he ripped the gown off her with one yank. He kept tearing, cursing, slapping, until a piece of fabric dropped onto the ground.

I stared at it, my mouth open. The handkerchief was made of fine, transparent silk, beautifully embroidered with a pair of nestling love ducks. But what was most astonishing was the stitched inscription:
To My Most Beloved, I send you my undying love.
Jiancheng.

Screaming, the Emperor threw it on the floor and stomped on it. “You have his handkerchief. And his name! His name!” He grabbed Jewel’s neck, choking her. “How dare you! How dare you show his name before me!”

“I…I…would…be honored…to…explain.” Jewel’s face turned crimson.

“There…is…nothing…to…explain!” he bellowed, thrusting Jewel aside. And Jewel’s pink skirt flying before me, she crashed near the door.

It all happened so fast. Before I could blink, the Emperor roared, and many servants rushed in the chamber and dragged Jewel out to the courtyard. A deafening uproar shook around me. Jewel screamed, the men shouted, footsteps pounded, and the maids and eunuchs gasped. I scrambled to my feet and ran to the door. From the corridor flooded many men holding their clubs and swords. I winced, my back knocking into the door. Guards usually were not allowed inside the Inner Court, let alone guards carrying weapons.

The Emperor shouted something, and they dove at Jewel. Her skirt was torn with a sharp rip, followed by a hysterical shriek that resonated in the sky.

I could not see her. There were so many shadows, so many clubs, and so many feet. I stumbled closer to a pillar and finally found Jewel near the stone stairs. At first, she covered her head, her body recoiling from one fist or another. Then she collapsed to the ground. Rods clobbered her back. Powerful kicks were aimed at her abdomen where a life had been nourished, and a hard sheath rammed into her right eye. She thrashed, twisted, trembled, and wallowed on the blood-drenched earth.

I closed my eyes, my bones aching from watching her. When I opened my eyes again, before me was a naked thing, wearing nothing but blood. Her trembling fingers dug into the ground, and her body heaved, but she slumped again.

I should have felt joyous and relieved. My rival for all these years, my worst enemy—the conniving, deceiving Jewel, who had sabotaged my chances and ruined my life—had finally fallen, with no way to return.

But my face was chilled, my hands numb. Why did it have to be like that? Why so many men and so many clubs?

“She deserved it,” the Noble Lady said beside me.

“She didn’t moan,” I said. “Not one moan.”

Nor had she cried. Not a tear.

“Would it help if she had?”

I did not know what to say, and I wanted to look away.

“Hold her!” the Emperor hollered. A guard clamped his arms around Jewel’s shoulder, and the Emperor cut her face with his sword. One line, another, and then another. A character, bleeding thick blood, formed on her cheek.
Nu
.

Slave.

“I here denounce you.” His voice was filled with venom. “You shall be stripped of your title, imprisoned in the Yeting Court, and dwell in the darkest room infested with mold and rodents for the rest of your life. You shall clean chamber pots and rake muck in the garden from sunrise to sunset. Captain! Take her!”

The Captain answered. He picked up Jewel’s limp body and hurled her in a wheelbarrow. The Emperor shouted again, fuming, and finally stormed away. Beckoning to the guards, the Captain pushed the wheelbarrow to leave. It squeaked past me, the single apricot tree in the courtyard, and finally reached the immense stone statue of kylin, the mythical unicorn that guarded the entrance of the compound.

It stopped, and inside the wheelbarrow, a shadow rose.

I went to her. I did not know why. The Noble Lady was still standing behind me, and she perhaps wondered what I was doing. But I could not help it. I just wanted to look at her. One last look.

She was struggling to hold on to the statue, which sat on a raised pedestal, trying to climb it. The statue was too tall for her, and if she had been standing on the ground, she only would have been able to touch its belly. But there she was, standing in the wheelbarrow, heaving, her arms flinging over the back of the mythical animal. When she took hold of it, she swung over, lying on its massive back. Then one hand pushing against the statue, she raised her head toward me. Her white hair, matted and bloody, spread around her face like poisonous vines, and her eyes, her catlike eyes, gazed at me with an expression I had never seen on any living face.

I wanted to say something, but I did not know what.

“There you are, Mei,” she said, her voice hoarse, indistinct. “How interesting this turns out. I would never have expected it. But don’t feel pity for me. Don’t. Because I should have known.”

I tore my gaze away. “I…I didn’t know they would treat you like this—”

“You did what you had to do. I can’t blame you. In fact…it’s me… I should be the one…” Blood trickled down her cheek, but she did not wipe it off. “I wish to apologize for all the foolish things I have done. Tricking you, setting you up…”

“I—”

“But it’s all right. You don’t need to say anything. Just forget everything. Forget all, and forget me.”

She flung her arms out, and something wet dropped on my neck, scalding me, like a droplet of burning oil. I cringed.

“You’ll come back. You always do,” I said.

She shook her head. “Not this time.”

“You’re a fighter. You’ll fight, Jewel.”

She turned away. She seemed to be struggling to rise, to stand on the statue, but her legs wobbled, and she kept slipping. Finally, she stood, her body swaying and her long, matted hair sticking to her back like a stained white cape. “I am tired, Mei. I am so tired.” Her voice was weaker, barely audible, as though all the climbing had drained her energy. “I shall go now. Farewell, my friend.”

She leaped into the air. Her arms spread wide, her head down, and her hair swept through the air and arched like a colorless rainbow.

Then she plunged. Her head crashed against the wall. There was a dull thud, and thousands of tiny droplets raced through the air like heavy beads. Abruptly, they halted and finally transformed into a shower of black rain.

For a long time, I stared at the darkness, unable to move. Sometime later, there was movement around me. The Emperor ordered everyone to leave. He had returned to the courtyard at some time, but I did not know when or whether he had watched Jewel jump. Shouting, he threw his sleeves behind him and left the courtyard. The Noble Lady called for me. I did not answer, and soon, she left too.

Jewel lay still near the wall. A black pool had formed around her; a shimmering river grew from her head, trickled to the stairs and into the courtyard. The Captain picked her up and tossed her in the wheelbarrow. The crowd dispersed and retreated into the dark.

Something round lay at the foot of the statue. Jewel’s fan.

I picked it up. It was painted on both sides, perhaps by Jewel herself. On one side, she had drawn a lady, her head drooping, gazing at a peony; on the other side another lady, her head raised, admiring the moon. I did not know why, but they reminded me of Jewel and me.

In truth, we were similar. Like two sides of a fan, we were at odds with each other, we competed with each other, but our fates similarly rested in the hands of the Emperor—the holder, the commander, the manipulator of our destinies.

And there was nothing we could do about it, because we were simply a whim in his mind, a fancy in his bed, an accessory beside his pillow, nothing more. We provided threads for his rapture but never the fabric of his happiness.