Jade Fire Gold(8)

“Force of habit. Fine, Altan. For the record, I like your real name better.”

“Your opinion means nothing to me.”

“Liar.”

I don’t deny it. Tang Wei and I have been friends since I was eight years old. I met her after Shīfù found me in the desert. Even though she pledges allegiance to the Lotus Sect and my gratitude lies with the Sun Clan who adopted me, we grew up together in the Southern Colonies.

Shīfù is a cultivator and a Tiensai while Tang Wei’s mentor, Elder Hong Feng, is also a cultivator and the leader of the secret society of female assassins. Though not a Tiensai herself, Elder Hong Feng is an old friend of Shīfù’s and sympathetic to our cause.

Tang Wei always had her sect sisters to rely on, to share her troubles and joys with. But I was mostly alone in Sun Manor. She likes to think of herself as my closest friend. That isn’t far from the truth, I suppose. But I’d never admit it to her.

“I guess you don’t want to know what I think of your foolish endeavor—” she starts.

“You just called it foolish—”

“I think you’re brave.”

Her words surprise me so much I can’t think of a clever response.

“Foolish,” she says without missing a beat. “But brave. Legend has it there are only two Soul Beasts in our world. One in the sea and one in the sky. An encounter with either can drive a person mad. How many even survive meeting the Phoenix? Even if I weren’t instructed to accompany you to the Wudin Mountains, I’d still go.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Wipe that sappy look off your face. It’s only because if you do go mad, I’ll be there to say: I told you so.”

I chuckle and pour her a cup of that vile cold tea. “Did you arrive here tonight? Shīfù said you were going to the capital a couple of months ago. Did you see Linxi?”

The smile on Tang Wei’s face broadens at the mention of her girlfriend’s name, and her eyes sparkle. “I got here an hour ago, and yes, I did see Linxi.”

Linxi isn’t part of the Lotus Sect and she isn’t a Tiensai, but she is one of us. Magic does not discriminate. It isn’t passed through a bloodline, nor does it restrict itself by class; both noble and peasant have fallen because of it.

Many years back, Linxi’s father—then a ranked official in the Shi capital—had no choice but to denounce his Tiensai wife and pledge allegiance to Emperor Gao Long to save his daughter from the priests’ scrutiny, even though Linxi showed no signs of developing magical abilities. Subsequently, he was removed from the Imperial courts to the colonies, lucky to escape the gallows with his tongue intact. Linxi shares a personal necessity I understand well.

The need for vengeance.

“How is she doing in the palace? Did she have news for us?” I ask.

“Apparently palace life has been less dramatic than she’d thought it would be. The concubines treat her fairly even though she’s just a lady-in-waiting. But now that Gao Long is dead, I expect they’ll be scheming for survival. Seeing that none of them have given birth to a royal child yet, there’s a good chance the empress dowager may cast them all out.”

“I don’t care about the concubines. Did Zhenxi murder Gao Long?” I ask, doing away with honorifics. Neither my aunt nor uncle deserve their title or status.

“Linxi isn’t sure. The royal physicians couldn’t figure out what was ailing Gao Long, and the official line is he died from an infection. But”—Tang Wei pauses dramatically—“Zhenxi insisted on tending to him in the weeks before his death. Some of the attendants say she sat by his bedside from dawn until dusk and saw to his meals personally even as he deteriorated.”

“Can’t say I feel sorry for the bastard if she did poison him.” The thought of Gao Long dying the same way he murdered Father is delightful.

“I hear the prince has a strong interest in the healing arts. He studies closely with the royal physicians and is known to create medicinal concoctions of his own.”

“Are you suggesting it was him?” I say, a twinge in my stomach. Despite our past, it is hard to believe Tai Shun would have it in him to poison his own father.

“I’m suggesting that Linxi keeps an eye on Tai Shun. Maybe she’ll find a way to get close to him.” Tang Wei doesn’t look pleased with the prospect of her girlfriend engaging in dangerous spy craft. But she has a bone to pick with the Diyeh priests, too, and the only way to get rid of them is to bring down the false rulers of the Empire.

“How about the one they call the Emperor’s Shadow? What do we know of Zhao Yang?”

“What we already know: decorated war hero who rose to power in recent years, the key strategist in Gao Long’s wars, no family we know of. Nothing we can use as leverage.” She narrows her eyes. “Yet. Don’t worry, Linxi will get us the information we need.”

“Good. Shīfù thinks the truce with Honguodi may be a ruse.”

“But the truce has been on for less than two weeks. The people won’t be happy about it if there’s another skirmish. Wouldn’t Zhenxi want to keep the peace?”

A razor-edged memory scrapes at my back as my aunt’s face appears in my mind. “She has the priests at her disposal. Why bother to gain the people’s love when you can rule with fear?”