chapter 2

Then I looked at Director Zhang.

“But Father just said Mother labored all day and did not deliver me until the midnight hour. When I was little, she also asked Abbess Jing’an to read my fate. The abbess said one must never cast a destiny at midnight, for any reading would be inaccurate. What does Director Zhang think?”

Sweat poured down the old man’s face. “Abbess Jing’an is an enlightened master. She cannot be wrong. As I said, Your Highness has an unusual chart. A birth in the early midnight hour and one in the late midnight hour fall on different heavenly stems and produce entirely different destinies.”

“Then which chart threatened the Imperial Star—the early hour or the late?”

He checked his calculations again and again before answering cautiously. “I used the late midnight hour.”

I released a long breath. “Because the abbess refused to read my fate, Mother found the midwife and verified the time through several witnesses. The answer was the early midnight hour. Both the abbess and the midwife can attest to it. Father may question them whenever he wishes.”

Father turned to Director Zhang. The white-haired man wiped his brow and dropped to his knees.

“This servant failed in his duty. I followed convention and used the late hour. I did not know the Third Princess was born in the early one.”

Father gave a soft snort. “Age has addled you. Go and receive fifty strokes.”

Director Zhang departed with a muted assent. Whether a man his age could survive those strokes was another question.

Father’s gaze slid to the Second Prince, damp and venomous as a snake crawling over his face. The prince shook like a sieve but clung to his last hope.

“Third Sister, why haven’t you removed your makeup?”

I smiled, pulled out the willow hairpin, and let my dark hair cascade down. Father stared again. Then I told a eunuch to bring water.

He had just received permission when a shrill announcement sounded beyond the heavy doors.

“Grand Tutor Liu Rongyu has arrived!”

The doors swung open. Near-noon sunlight poured in, laying a long slanting beam across the hall. A tall figure walked through it, dignified in black court robes and crown.

He bowed. “Congratulations, Your Majesty. A divine tortoise bearing the Luo Script has appeared in Hexi. It is an omen of the highest blessing.”

Father’s face darkened. “Why Hexi?”

“Hexi is the empress’s homeland. Joy in the phoenix’s nest must be Heaven’s will.”

Father sneered. “Is the Grand Tutor not anxious for his own Liu clan?”

“The Liu clan enjoys abundant imperial favor. I have nothing to fear.”

Father looked to the Eldest Prince. “And you? Are you not anxious?”

The prince, silent since my arrival, straightened. “Father is in the prime of life. Your protection is shelter enough for me.”

Father laughed and cried “Good!” three times, then fixed the Second Prince with a sinister stare.

“I am not yet old, and already you grow impatient. The Zheng clan of Hexi deserves death!”

All color had drained from the Second Prince when Liu Rongyu announced the omen. He managed only, “Mother, save me!” before guards gagged him and dragged him away.

I quietly tucked the water-soluble concealing pellet back into my sleeve. Liu Rongyu had arrived just in time. Otherwise I could not have hidden the mole without risk.

Mother had understood Father too well. The moment the first prophecy was spoken, she knew she would not escape alive. While Father tortured the diviner, she claimed illness, found me, and hurriedly gave her final instructions. If danger ever came, I was to release the green bird from Yaohua Palace with a letter.

Having rooted out the supposed threat to his star, Father was cheerful again. He told Liu Rongyu, “I won’t keep you for chess today. Go visit Consort Liu.”

Liu Rongyu thanked him and left with the Eldest Prince for Minghua Palace.

I alone remained. Father stared at me for a long time and murmured, “Like Ah Zhu. So very like her…”

Mother had been born to the Cen family, defenders of the southern frontier. Her given name was Manzhu.

I did not evade Father’s gaze. I merely clenched my fist inside my sleeve until my chest hurt. At last he dismissed me and ordered that every portrait Wanqiu had painted of Consort Ning be brought from Yaohua Palace.

When I stepped out, the sun stood at its zenith. I narrowed my eyes at the sundial.

Time had flown. Mother had been gone for more than four years.

I missed her so much.