Butterfly Swords. Jeannie Lin

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      Ailey held her breath. He had said they would go together. His manners might be strange and uncultured, but there was a core of honour in him. She hadn’t been wrong about that.

      ‘Thank you,’ she murmured.

      His only reply was a brief shrug of his shoulders. He was helping her at great risk to himself. More than he knew. But she needed him to get home. It was the only way.

      The morning came back to her as they huddled in the corner, trying not to touch and failing. His mouth had crushed against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only made the memory more overwhelming.

      His hands had urged her close until she was pressed against the hard muscle of his chest. She had cast all caution aside, assuming he would leave. But he was still here. The heat of his body radiated through his tunic to find its way to her.

      He shifted and she responded by inching towards the wall. His features were shadowed in the dim corner and the steady rhythm of his breathing reminded her how precariously close he was. She held herself perfectly still, afraid that if she moved she would find herself falling towards him, closing the scant space between them.

      As if sensing her thoughts, he pulled away to the window, leaving her so quickly the air beside her still tingled with his presence. He braced his hands against the frame with head bent and shoulders pulled taut, a powerful silhouette against the light outside. The silence went on for so long that she began to worry he had changed his mind.

      ‘I don’t see any more of them,’ he reported, peering down into the alley. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

      ‘What Li Tao has done is unforgivable. I would rather die than become his wife.’

      Ryam nodded, and moved away from the window. ‘We’ll go out the back way.’

      Reckless, she could hear Father proclaiming. To imagine she was safe with a barbarian she’d barely met.

      Always feeling, never thinking, Mother scolded.

      But she had thought very carefully and she trusted Ryam more than anyone else in this province. This was Li Tao’s domain and he would kill them both if he found them.

      She had vowed to her parents to be a dutiful wife, but that was one vow she could not fulfil. She prayed they would forgive her for her disobedience. She hoped they would believe her when she spoke against one of the most powerful men in the empire.

      Her legs burned as she stood and the blood rushed back into them. They must have been crouched there for over an hour. Ryam led as they picked their way around the baskets towards the stairway. He scanned the room below on the first floor, and gestured towards the door at the back.

      She peered over the railing before starting down, keeping her step as light as possible. Midway, a board creaked beneath her feet. Ryam muttered a curse as the voices halted down below. He gave her a small push.

      ‘Run!’

      They bolted down the stairs and through the door, abandoning any attempt at stealth. She took off around the corner and ducked into an alcove. Ryam shoved himself in beside her. They both held still, pressed against the brick. When it was clear that no one was following, she doubled over, gasping for breath.

      ‘We’d make very bad thieves.’

      She looked up to see Ryam grinning. He had a good spirit. She laughed, caught up in it. Part of her couldn’t help but enjoy this adventure.

      Once her breathing returned to normal, she poked her head around the enclosure. The streets had emptied in the late afternoon and the sounds of the market faded. Ryam emerged first, surveying the area before pulling her behind him. He shielded her as they ventured forwards. The protective gesture made her want to press even closer. She didn’t have much experience with cities. She definitely had no knowledge of the back alleys they were navigating. Most of her life had been spent in her family home nestled in the mountains, surrounded by family and household servants.

      ‘Where is it that you came from?’ she asked.

      ‘The other end of the world.’

      ‘You seem to have been here for a long time.’

      ‘Years and years.’ His answers became noticeably clipped when he spoke of his past.

      ‘We have a name for your land. We call it “Ta Chin”, the Great Empire of the West.’

      ‘I don’t come from any great empire.’

      She frowned.

      ‘That empire you speak of no longer exists. Our kingdom—what was our kingdom—is a small one compared to this empire.’

      The journey across the silk routes was said to be a treacherous one. If she only had the time to ask all the questions she wanted to. He must have amazing stories to tell.

      ‘Are you part of the lost legion?’ she asked. ‘The wandering soldiers they speak about?’

      He didn’t answer immediately. ‘I suppose I am.’ He cast a sideways glance at her. ‘Your people do love their legends.’

      His smile made her pulse skip. He was different and mysterious, and curiosity made her bold. Bold enough to kiss a man she barely knew. She was suddenly out of breath. Her mind kept falling like water down the mountainside back to that moment.

      ‘They say those swordsmen marched on Changan during the palace rebellion. Were you with them?’ she continued.

      This time his hesitation was obvious. ‘Maybe the less we know about each other’s stories, the better.’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      He halted to turn to her. ‘The rest of the empire is not as tolerant as you towards unwashed barbarians.’

      She stared at the coppered spots where the sun had darkened his cheeks and the rugged growth of his beard. It was a face unlike any she’d ever known.

      ‘I don’t think of you as an unwashed barbarian,’ she said softly.

      He started to speak, but stopped. The intensity of his gaze made her shift uncomfortably. ‘We need to get you to Changan as fast as possible,’ he said. ‘And then I need to disappear.’

      As if to make a point, he forged ahead in long strides that left no room for conversation. She couldn’t deny what he was saying. The empire had become fearful and suspicious. No one trusted anyone in the capital, let alone outsiders. She hated living with that dark cloud always over her.

      At the end of the passage, Li Tao’s proclamation had been pasted on the wall. She tore down one paper. Ryam stared over her shoulder at the black brushstrokes.

      ‘What does all that say?’

      So he couldn’t read the characters. That was fortunate. She didn’t know how he would react if he discovered who she truly was.

      ‘Li Tao is offering a reward of a hundred taels of silver for my return.’

      He СКАЧАТЬ