Chapter 4
Several days later, I learned what he had meant when he said he would make it up to me.
The year was drawing to a close, when trouble was most likely to stir at the frontier. At this time every year, the heir inspected the border defenses in his father’s stead. In previous years, he had never brought a woman with him.
This time, however, he took me.
Snow was falling heavily when we reached the frontier.
He settled me at the Prince of Zhenbei’s border residence, then left with his men without even pausing to rest. Half a month passed before he returned, covered in dust from the road.
Another man came back with him.
Unlike the heir in his silver-white armor, the man wore fitted black clothes, seemingly chosen for ease of movement.
Yet his bearing was scholarly, and there was restraint in his gaze. He was surely a man of letters.
At first I took him for one of the heir’s strategists, but he was surrounded by his own guards, an entourage quite separate from the heir’s, and the heir treated him with unusual courtesy.
When I went out to welcome the heir, the man’s eyes happened to meet mine. Something in their depths seemed familiar, though I could not remember where I might have seen him.
The glance seemed accidental. He quickly looked away.
The heir and his men addressed him as Lord Chen.
Judging by the heir’s manner toward him, his official rank could not be low.
After half a month apart, the candles in our room did not go out until well past midnight. When I woke the next day, it was already time for the midday meal.
The heir had gone to the barracks.
I rose, ate, and wandered outside. At the end of the covered walkway, I saw a tall figure in a black crane-feather cloak standing beneath a plum tree. It was Lord Chen.
He turned and saw me but said nothing.
Mindful of the propriety between men and women, I bowed and turned away. Even so, I felt a gaze resting on my back.
Once the heir’s demanding fortnight was over, he took me everywhere with him.
By day we rode horses, hunted, and watched the cattle and sheep. At night he brought me to roast meat with his brothers-in-arms and watch songs and dances around the bonfire. Not knowing my true status, they grinned and called me their sister-in-law. I tried to explain, but the heir caught my hand.
I glanced at him. He was watching the distant bonfire and the dancers circling it, a smile on his lips that I had never seen in the capital.
One day, he took me up onto the city wall.
He said he had never felt as free and contented as he did now.
Wild grass stretched to the horizon. Snow-covered mountain ranges rose and fell in the distance. The north wind roared in my ears, mingling with the heat of his breath.
He drew me against his chest and looked out over the frontier in winter.
“Look, Yu’er. My father and I defended this land together. We drove the Turkic forces back fifty li and forced them to sign a truce. Since then, they have sent tribute every year and have not dared violate so much as an inch of Great Zhou’s border!”
“At my coming-of-age ceremony when I was twenty, Father gave me the courtesy name Shouzhi. His greatest wish was to hold the frontier and defend the land beneath our feet. He wanted me to remain true to that first purpose and never forget who I am or the duty upon my shoulders.”
Leaning against him, I thought that his heart held the realm and all its people.
He had once fought bloody battles to protect this country, this city, and the people within its walls, raising his blade against the enemy.
A picture formed in my mind: a young general on horseback, lance raised, charging into battle without hesitation, resolute and unyielding.
I found myself wishing I had known him then.
Perhaps because I did not answer, he asked, “What are you thinking about, Yu’er?”
I smiled. For once, my usual caution seemed to fall away. “I was wondering what you look like on the battlefield, my lord.”
His warm laugh rang out. “And have you imagined it?”
Smiling, I replied, “I think you would look exactly the way I like best.”
A hero, simple and pure, who fought with all his heart for his country—what young woman would not be moved?
“All that fighting and killing. What is there for Yu’er to like?” he asked with a laugh.
“No. Yu’er likes heroes.” I turned my face, my breath mingling with his. “And my lord is a hero.”
The chest at my back shook. A bright, delighted laugh rolled from deep within him and echoed over the high city walls.
I knew I would remember for the rest of my life how sincerely he had laughed beneath the boundless skies of the northern frontier.
Hoofbeats sounded beyond the walls, drawing rapidly nearer as yellow dust billowed into the air. A party of riders in fitted clothes raced to the city gates, led by none other than Lord Chen.
The heir’s laughter stopped. Still holding me, he watched the company below thunder through the gates in a cloud of dust.
His voice returned to its habitual calm, measured and unhurried. “Do you know who Lord Chen is, Yu’er?”
I shook my head and said I did not.
He gave a cold laugh. “He is the army supervisor sent to the frontier by His Majesty. Supervisor in name, perhaps—but whom he has truly come to supervise remains to be seen.”
I paused. There was no war at present, so an army supervisor was indeed unnecessary.
Was even the Prince of Zhenbei’s house now walking on thin ice? Was that why they had chosen to ally by marriage with the Minister of Rites—because the man in the imperial palace had grown wary of them, forcing them to join hands with civil officials to secure their position?