Lady Earthquake

Lady Earthquake Chapter 56

Sun-Sin bit his thumbnail and looked steadily at his brother. "If you try to kill me, it is all part of the political game and to be expected. You have no reason to harm Dizhen and very cogent reasons for keeping her alive, besides your newly expressed passion for her. Therefore, I determined that Miss Lung acted without your knowledge or permission and should alone be punished for attempting Dizhen's life."

"I wish you would call her 'Miss Dizhen'. It shows that you have the proper respect." Sun-Sin bowed his head to this request. "You do recognize then that my feelings for Miss Dizhen are genuine."

"I do believe it."

"And...?"

"You play for Yiang, not Wuyue? What surety can you offer that you will not overthrow our father or usurp the place of the Crown Prince?"

"Only that my whole being is focused on making Miss Dizhen my queen. Yiang is open for the taking. I will raise her to queen in one month from our wedding day. Could you ever elevate her to such a rank, so far above all other women?"

"No. Never."

"Then surrender her to me. Her presence in my bed will ensure our mutual alliance."

Sun-Sin's left hand, hidden beneath the table, clenched hard on his thigh. Imaging his beloved for a single instance in T'ien Luo-Bi's arms was as sharp and bitter as a poisoned knife blade in his side. "You have not even asked if we are lovers."

"Her past does not interest me. Only her future by my side matters now."

Sun-Sin poured himself another cup, his hand shaking so much that half the wine went onto the table. He raised his head to meet a look like none he had ever seen on his brother's handsome, cold face, an expression of hope amounting to a silent plea.

"I cannot see her as anyone's queen," he said slowly. "Nor even, truth to tell, as a typically attentive wife. I can see her only as what her life is to me. What do you see in her, I wonder, that I do not?"

"I cannot say," T'ien Luo-Bi said. "I have not words to say. I will make you powerful. I will give you anything you want. Only give me Miss Dizhen."

"Again, that woman is not mine to give. But when we return to the capital, I will walk away from her. What happens then is up to you."

A singularly boyish smile awoke on T'ien Luo-Bi's mouth. "I ask for nothing more. We leave at first light."

* * *

On the journey, T'ien Luo-Bi gave no orders, delegating all his decisions to either Sun-Sin or one of his own adjutants. Even his closest servants seemed confused by the lingering half-smile on their general's lips. The second night after an extended day in the saddle, Sun-Sin overhead the two oldest men saying, "He looks just like a bridegroom...."

"Have you heard that he has a woman in the capital?"

"Woman? Women, rather. Maybe someone new has caught his eye."

To add to Sun-Sin's concealed pain, his brother wanted to talk at length of Dizhen. There was no one else of rank present who had seen her. "Have you noticed how her head tilts when her words devastate you with some comment? Or how her brows lift when her heart is pleased by something?"

"Yes, I have."

"Of course, it is the color of her eyes that is so striking," the Third Prince said, staring into the fire as though he could see her face in the flames. "As I believe I said before, when I first saw Miss Dizhen at court, I thought only that here must be Shu Ban-Li's twin sister. It was only after several such meetings that the truth appeared to me like the floating presence of Kuan-shi Yin on a lotus blossom."