A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea #1) (88)

As I’m surrounded by laughter and conversation, this kitchen feels like a home. Like another type of family.

I am only a few bites into my bowl when we hear the pattering of feet running down the stone path outside the kitchens. A young man appears first, dressed in a similar uniform to the kitchen staff. He leans over, panting, out of breath. Chair legs scrape against the floor as Small Wu and others stand up from their seats, the conversation coming to a swift stop.

The young man gulps in a breath and then shouts, “Something … Something’s happened! At the banquet … Something’s wrong with the food!”

At first, the words run in an incomprehensible jumble, then the implication of what he has uttered strikes us all at once.

Steward Yang appears at the entrance, strands of hair loose from her usually tight bun, collar askew from her run, and her mouth pinched. Her eyes settle on me before she closes the distance between us in an instant.

“What are you still doing here?” she says to me sharply.

I look back at her, not understanding. “You told me to come. You sent Mingwen.”

Steward Yang’s expression twists, shifting from uncertainty to fury. She looks over my shoulder. I follow her gaze to Mingwen, who is trembling.

“I told her to get you out,” Steward Yang says, voice low. “I told her you should get as far away from the palace as possible.”

Pieces begin to fall together, aligning on the game board. Someone wanted me in the kitchens during the banquet.

The older woman shakes her head. “I should have suspected when she so eagerly volunteered.”

“Please, you have to understand!” Mingwen clutches at the servant next to her, but they all give her a wide berth, leaving her standing alone. She pleads, with her hands extended in front of her, “They threatened my family! They said we would all be executed for theft, because of her!” Her voice rises, hysterical, gesturing in my direction. “She gave me the hairpin! It was hers!”

“Steward Yang,” I whisper. “What’s happened at the banquet?”

She doesn’t respond for a moment, biting her lip. I can almost hear the abacus in her head again, calculating possibilities and numbers, trying to figure out a solution.

“Listen very carefully. We may only have a few minutes to save our hides,” she calls out to everyone in the room. “None of you will admit to seeing Ning here, do you hear me?”

Heads nod as Steward Yang sends out orders rapidly, sending staff scattering in different directions. She pulls me through another set of moon doors, deeper into the kitchens. We hurry past shelves stacked high with ingredients, pots and pans ready for tomorrow morning. Past darkened ovens with smoldering embers within their openings.

It is near the women’s quarters where we see movement up ahead, and Steward Yang pushes me in another direction, down a side corridor, but other footsteps rush in behind us. There are shouts in the distance, then a line of armored bodies and spears cuts off the end of the corridor, trapping us in.

“What is the meaning of this?” Steward Yang still maintains her composure, but the guards remain silent. “I demand to speak to Captain Liang!”

They ignore us but refuse to part when we approach, keeping us back. We do not have to wait long before a few of them part at the entrance to the courtyard, letting a man through. The familiar figure stops before me, greeting me with a brilliant smile.

“Hello, Ning,” he says, in his rich, deep voice.

It’s a voice I dread, one that reminds me of being ten years old, cowering and afraid.

Wang Li, the governor of Sù.

He’s broad-shouldered with a slim waist, hair in a tight topknot, his uniform tailored to emphasize his height. He wears a black cloak lined with green, a jade pendant swinging from the hem. My aunt always called his imposing figure handsome and striking, but I think those who hold that opinion are fools. They do not see the way he savors the fear of his victims when he is on the hunt.

Now, I recognize I am his prey.

“This is a governor of Dàxī!” one of the soldiers at his side barks. “Do you not know your place?”

Steward Yang’s hand still grips my arm, and I can feel her shaking next to me. Slowly, she kneels before the governor, and I follow. My mind spins, my two lives colliding at this very moment.

I know what it means when the governor dons the colors of the ministry, when he brings his pack of dogs to accompany him. When he strokes the hilt of his sword like he is begging for a reason to draw it.

Governor Wang speaks, voice carrying over the heads of all the guards, for everyone to hear and bear witness. “Zhang Ning of Sù, you are in suspicion of conspiring with rebels who are enemies of the empire, the murder of the princess’s personal handmaiden, involvement in the plot to poison the court officials at the banquet tonight, and fleeing the scene of the celebratory banquet. You will be taken by the Ministry of Justice for questioning, as you have been deemed a danger to the public.”

Ruyi … Ruyi is dead?

The last time Zhen spoke of her, she spoke of Ruyi’s recovery. But she has not been seen at any of the subsequent rounds, even though she is usually at the side of the princess. My heart burns at the thought of the loss of so many lives, one of them my own patient who I believed I had saved.

All their eyes are upon me, and I can only force out a few words in a whisper: “That’s not true.”