The Immortal Words (The Grave Kingdom), стр. 92
The wind was warm as it came through the windows, rustling the silk curtains of the bed. But she felt too anxious for sleep. The Phoenix Blade rested on a sword cradle on a table near the bed.
A latch sounded softly, and the secret door opened again. She smelled Rowen before he emerged from the shadows. When he entered, he felt his way with his hands, moving slowly. There were no birds in her room that night, so he was truly blind. She stood silently, watching him grope his way closer to her. Their soul connection was still strong. She’d sensed he was nearby but had assumed he was in his own room.
His foot bumped against the edge of the couch, and he caught himself on the cushions before falling onto it.
“Would you like help, my lord?” she asked him in a teasing voice.
“I’m going to require bird cages to be put in every room throughout the palace grounds,” he said, but it was a lie.
“It won’t help because I will free each and every one of them. I was about to come to you,” she said, walking slowly and deliberately toward him. His head moved slightly, tracking the sound of her voice.
“I knew you would. But I wanted to touch our child again. To kiss his forehead and bid him good night. I like the name you chose for him.” His hands smoothed the fabric of the couch.
She reached him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Better?”
She felt him shudder. “I’m still a little confused about how our son was conceived.”
Her cheeks began to burn. “Do I need to explain such details to you, Rowen?”
“That’s not what I meant.” He smiled. “Years ago, I had a vision of being blind. And someone—you—came to me. It was a couch . . . similar to this.”
“But it wasn’t this one,” Bingmei said. “I already showed you where it will happen. We were husband and wife on that day. Now we are not.”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet what?”
“Not yet husband and wife. But you will be mine, Bingmei. We will not be a traditional king and queen. I know you wouldn’t stand for that. Wearing layers of gowns and hardly being able to walk in them. You are my warrior queen.”
“The only title that I desire is to be your wife,” she said. “That day is coming still, Rowen.” She traced her finger on his chest. Not a glyph but the word that meant “love.”
“Will you heal my eyes?” he asked softly.
She licked her lips. “The healing rune should have done that too. I think it is important somehow, for you to stay like this.”
He stroked her hair and pressed his lips against the top of her head. He’d finally shaved the ugly beard from his confinement. “I thought so. I can see things happening very far away. Before I came to you tonight, I traveled with the birds to Sajinau. I saw the gardens of the hanging trees. There are plenty of birds there. Our emissaries arrived. It’s unfair, I suppose, knowing their answer before it comes. But as General Tzu put it, nothing in warfare is too dishonest.” He smiled at her and lifted her chin. “At least I can see you when the birds are awake. Or when I am in my phoenix form. I’ve always thought your name was remarkable. You are my winter rose.”
“And you are still a man without a country,” she said, teasing the edge of his lip with her finger. He kissed her fingertip. “Well, not a single country. You have them all.”
“I don’t care about ruling countries. I just want to know when you will be mine.” He squeezed her hips.
“Jidi Majia and your sister haven’t arrived yet for the ceremony. Are you so impatient?”
He gave her a hungry look. “Yes. But I will try to wait, even though it tortures me. I saw from a flock of seagulls that they will be arriving in the morning.” She could smell his urgency, his desire for her, and his deep adoration. It was a heady smell. “But I want you now.”
“We will wait until it is proper,” she said. “My master, Kunmia Suun, taught us that what lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do.”
Rowen smiled at the pearl of wisdom. “Then we will wait until tomorrow. Or whenever you think you have tortured me long enough.”
“It is torture for me as well,” she said. “But a kiss will suffice. For now.”
She brought her hands up to his hair. The smell that came from him curled around her. She hadn’t believed anyone would want her, not like this. And when his lips lowered and touched hers, she accepted it because it was honest, because it was without disguise, and because she loved him more deeply than she had when she’d crossed the current of time to meet him.
EPILOGUE
The Smell of Revenge
The junk floated into the harbor of Wangfujing. The docks teemed with other boats, and the crowds were thick as merchants and fishermen bartered. The water had a sour smell, and dead fish bobbed on the ripples. Budai stared at his city, seeing the changes that had been wrought in only a few years.
The streets had been repaired and so had the wharves. New timbers and posts had been carved into animal shapes. How much money had been spent on the renovations? When he was the ruler, he had demanded that local businesses pay for a portion of repairs. The arched bridges spanning the river that split Wangfujing in the middle had small boats, but the waters were still sludge-filled and mottled with the corpses of dead fish.
As Budai stared across his kingdom reborn, he did not feel what he had expected to feel. Not relief at returning to the kingdom as its ruler. Not pride that he had achieved