The prince sipped his wine. "By planting stories in the Ta-Ming and the mandarin courtyards as to his intentions. And doing so while he was
in
Xinan, away from his soldiers, and feeling vulnerable because of it."
There was nothing idle about the room now.
Tai saw two or three of those present begin to back away, as if removing themselves from a combat. Sima Zian's wide-set eyes went from one speaker to another, avidly, absorbing it all, like light.
"Sometimes," said Tai's brother softly, "my lord prince, sometimes the stories being told can be true."
Shinzu looked at him. "They can. But there are
ways
of dealing with a man as powerful as An Li. These do not include making him feel as if his back is to a stone wall, or that he faces ruin at the hands of a first minister."
"Ruin? Not from me," said Zhou, regaining his composure. "I am no more than a servant of the empire. It would be our glorious emperor, may he live forever, who decreed anything at all!"
"In that case," said the prince in a voice delicate as silk, "might it not have been wisest to advise the glorious emperor, and others perhaps, as to your intentions? This is," he added, "a game so deeply perilous, Minister Wen, it beggars description."
"Hardly a game, my lord!" said Wen Zhou.
"I believe I will disagree with you," said the prince.
There was nothing remotely indolent or drunken about him, Tai thought. What
was
this moment? What was happening here?
He saw the prince set down his wine on a lacquered table. Shinzu added, "This feels, I am sorry to say, to be about two men and power, not the empire, or the emperor, may he rule another thousand years."
"I am distressed to hear you say so," Zhou murmured.
"I'm certain you are," agreed the prince. "My father was, as well." He said it quietly.
"You ... you spoke of this with the emperor?" Zhou had flushed again.
"Yesterday morning. In the Pagoda Tree Garden here."
"My lord prince, if I may?" It was Tai's brother. "We are confused. Please enlighten us all. You say there are ways of dealing with Roshan. That suggests you agree he needs to be dealt with, if your servant may be so bold. The first minister and all of us who labour, unworthily, to assist him in his heavy tasks will be grateful for guidance. How
does
one address the danger General An represents for Kitai and this dynasty?"
There was nothing,
nothing
, Tai thought, of the amusing here now.
The prince, Taizu's heir, said, speaking as quietly as Liu, "By giving him honour and power. By summoning him here to be given
more
honours and
more
power--which is what the Precious Consort and my exalted father have been doing. Offering him banquet after banquet in the Ta-Ming or here at Ma-wai--and then watching him die of the sugar sickness, which he is doing in any case."
Wen Zhou opened his mouth.
Shinzu held up a hand. "And, after the great and glorious An Li has lamentably gone to join his ancestors, by giving him the most sumptuous funeral any barbarian military leader has ever had in the long history of Kitai."
He paused. The room was riveted. "And then, by bringing his eldest son into the palace, to whatever forms and variations of luxury appeal to him most. Making that son a supreme officer of the Palace Army, or leader of the Hundred Horsemen, or both! And doing the same thing for the younger sons. Keeping them
all
here for life. Giving them every woman in Xinan their fancy might turn towards. Every horse they wish to ride. Giving mansions and jade and country homes, endless wine and finer clothing than they have ever worn--while three new governors take control of the armies and districts in the northeast."
He looked at Zhou. "
That
is what you do, First Minister Wen, if you are thinking about the empire and not a private war between two men who hate and fear each other. Private wars, Wen Zhou, can become more than that."
A silence. No man rushed to fill it.
"
Every
woman?" said Jian, a hand to her breast. "Oh, dear!"
Prince Shinzu laughed aloud.
Tai realized he'd been forgetting to breathe again. He resumed, as silently as he could.
"It is not, my lord prince, so simple as that!" said Wen Zhou strongly. "Not when the man in question, ill as he might or might not be, remains ambitious beyond words."
"Nothing at court is simple," said Jian, before the prince could speak. "You are tasked, cousin, with guiding an empire. An Li is one of those charged with expanding and defending it. If you spend your days and nights circling each other like fighting cocks with metal claws, what happens to Kitai? Do we just watch and place wagers?"
From his place of hiding, Tai could not help but ask in the silence of his mind:
And where is the emperor in all of this? Is it not his task to resolve such matters, for his people, under heaven?
Then something occurred to him and he caught his breath, again.
"Fighting cocks?" Wen Zhou repeated, head high.
Shinzu nodded. "A good description. Who shall be lord of the battle ring, vanquish the other, whatever the cost. Minister Wen, with the burdens that lie upon you, great privileges also come. This was true of Chin Hai before you. He was--we all know it--a potent, fearsome man. Roshan has chosen to test you in your first year. Can anyone be surprised? Military leaders exploring the strength and will of the Ta-Ming Palace? How do you think you have responded, first minister of my father?"
Wen Zhou's voice was firm. "I have warned the exalted emperor repeatedly. I warned the Censorate, the Treasury, and the ministers, including those supervising the army. I warned my lovely cousin. Had you expressed the least interest in these affairs before today, my lord prince, I would have warned you! You are, my lord, being unjust. Cousin, I have spoken to
all
of you about Roshan."
"But he," said Jian, smiling gently, "also warned us about you. Where does that leave the Son of Heaven, cousin?"
"He ... An Li has spoken to you about
me
?"
"You think him a fool, cousin?"
"Of course not. He'd not be a danger if he was."
"That is not always so," said the prince. "Folly can be dangerous."
Tai was being forced, moment by moment, word by word, to change everything he'd ever thought he knew about Shinzu.
"Cousin," said Jian, "until lately, the danger has seemed to be from each of you to the other, not to the empire. But if Kitai is placed in peril because two men hate each other ..."
She left the thought unfinished.
"You arrested two of his advisers this spring. For consulting astrologers." The prince's eyebrows were level.
Tai's brother said quickly, "The inquiry established it was true, my lord prince."
"Did the inquiry also establish it mattered very much?" the prince said, just as swiftly. "Or was this simply provocation? Do tell me, adviser to the first minister."
Zhou lifted a hand, a small enough gesture, to forestall Liu's reply.
Wen Zhou bowed then, to the prince, to Jian. With dignity he said, "It is possible I have erred. No servant of the emperor should regard himself as infallible. I desire only to serve Kitai and the throne to the best of my abilities. I am prepared to be counselled."
"Good," said Jian.
"Indeed, good," said Shinzu. "And surely no more need be said about this on a lovely afternoon in Ma-wai. But before we turn to our diversions, will you tell me, first minister, where I may find one of your guards? Feng is his name, I am told."
"What?" said Zhou. "The honourable ... the prince is asking after one of my household?"
"I am," said the prince affably. He had reclaimed his wine cup. He held it out to be refilled. "I sent some of my own men to your compound to bring him to the Ta-Ming. He appears to have left Xinan. Where might the fellow be?"
Tai looked at his brother. Instinct, again. Liu's face showed perplexity. Whatever this was about, Liu didn't know it.
Wen Zhou said, "My guardsman? You want to speak with one of my guards?"
"I did say that," the prince murmured. "I also said he seems to have disappeared."
"Not at all," said Zhou. "He's been sent to my family. My parents are at greater risk with all these instabilities, and I thought they should have an experienced guard supervising their household retainers."
"Instabilities," the prince repeated. "So he'll be there now?"
"Still on his way, he departed only a few days ago."
"Actually, no, he's here in Ma-wai," said Jian.
Her voice was gentle. The room turned to her. "Perhaps I ought to have informed you both, cousin, my lord prince. I had the man followed and brought back, after receiving certain information."
"You knew he'd left?" The prince's expression was admiring.
"It seemed a reasonable expectation he would do that."
"You stopped my man on his journey?" Zhou's voice was odd.
"Greatly esteemed lady, please, what ... information?" It was Liu.
Tai didn't know whether to be amused by his brother's confusion, or to pity it. Liu hated, even more than Tai did, not understanding what was unfolding, anywhere, any time.
"We received a suggestion," said Jian, still gently, "that the man might have committed a murder before leaving. Dear cousin, this will all be new to you, of course."
It
wouldn't
be, of course. Tai reminded himself: he was among the dancers, and he didn't know the music.
"Of course it is new!" the first minister exclaimed. "Murder? Who alleges such a thing?"
"The Gold Bird Guards have submitted an account of something they say happened a few nights past. They were alerted that an act of violence might take place and some of them were there when it did. They made no arrest, seeking counsel from the palace first. You will appreciate why they did this: the murderer was your guardsman."
"I am shocked! Who alerted them to this terrible thing?"
The prime minister did not, Tai noted, ask who had been killed.
Zhou's demeanour, under the circumstances, was remarkable. Aristocratic breeding did make a difference, Tai thought. The Wen families of the south were not among the very wealthiest in this dynasty, but they had a lineage that went back a long way.
That was, of course, how Jian had become a lesser prince's wife, before rising beyond that.
"Who alerted us? Roshan did, as it happens," said Prince Shinzu.
Liu asked the question: "What man is he alleged to have slain?"
"A minor civil servant," said the prince. "I am told he was a drinking companion of your own brother. His name was Xin. Xin Lun, I am told."
"And ... you say An Li told the Gold Bird Guards that this might be
about
to happen ...?" Liu was struggling.
"Well," said Jian, sounding regretful, "the fellow, Master Xin, seems to have feared he might be in danger after certain tidings reached the Ta-Ming from the west. He wrote Roshan asking for protection."
Tai was watching the first minister. Zhou was impressive in that moment, showing nothing of what would have to be extreme agitation.
"And Governor An ...?" Liu asked.
"... alerted the Gold Bird Guards, quite properly. They arrived too late, it seems, to prevent a death. It is," said Jian, "an unfortunate business."
"Most unfortunate," the first minister murmured.
"I can imagine how it distresses you, cousin, to have been sending such a violent man to guard your dear parents. My own uncle and aunt. The spirits shield them!" said Jian. "We will, of course, learn more when this Feng is questioned."
"This ... has not yet happened?" Wen Zhou's voice was a little strained. Tai was suddenly enjoying himself.
That didn't last long.
"We were waiting for Master Shen Tai," said Jian, matter-of-factly. "To learn what he might add to the story. I spoke with him earlier, myself."
"With ... you spoke with my brother?" said Liu.
"I did, since this seems to have to do with him." Jian looked at her cousin, and she wasn't smiling. "I think I like him. I decided he should have a chance to listen before speaking himself."
It was Liu who figured it out.
He looked at the two screens, from one to the other. His face was unreadable. Almost. If you knew him well, there were clues. Jian glanced over, as if casually, to where Tai was hidden.
And that was, Tai thought, as clear a signal to join the dance as he was ever going to get.
He stood up, straightened his clothes. Then he stepped around the screen, brushing the rich sandalwood of the wall, and came out to be seen. There was a degree of astonishment that--he supposed--the Precious Consort might find enjoyable. He didn't.
He had no idea what he was expected to do. He bowed to the heir, to Jian. Not to the first minister or his older brother. Both would have been proper, of course. He managed a brief smile for Sima Zian. The poet was grinning, clearly delighted by this theatre.
Tai cleared his throat. A roomful of high-ranking figures was staring at him. "Thank you, exalted lady," he said. "I admit I was unhappy about concealing myself, but your servant defers to your greater wisdom."
She laughed. "Oh, dear. You make me sound ancient! Greater wisdom? I just wanted to see their faces when you came out!"
Which wasn't the truth, and he knew it. All of them knew it. But this was a part of how Jian danced at this court, Tai was realizing. How she made others dance. This lay beneath the silk and scent. You didn't have to be with her long to see it.
Now that he was among them, the fact that he and she were wearing similar colours was unmistakable. Tai had wondered if it was deliberate. Of course it was.
He'd made a decision before, he reminded himself. If he could not weave subtle intentions towards a known design, he would have to do things differently. There wasn't really a choice, was there? Either he was a puppet, or a piece of wood in a river in spate, or he had
some
control over what was happening.
And he could do that here only one way.
He turned to Wen Zhou. "How did you know I was at Kuala Nor?"
He ought to have phrased it with courtesy, prefaced by bows and a deferential greeting. He ought not to have asked it at all.
Zhou stared bleakly at him. Said nothing.
"Second Brother," said Liu, a little too loudly. "Be welcome back among us! You have brought great honour to our family." Liu bowed, and not just the minimal salute of courtesy.
There was no way forward here, Tai thought, but straight.
"And you have shamed our father's memory, Eldest Brother. Did you never think how
he
would have felt about Li-Mei being sent north to barbarians?"
"But of
course
!" cried Prince Shinzu. "I had forgotten that our newest princess was of this family! How interesting!"