LITMIR.BIZ

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out of her wits, she presented a vision.

      “Are you hurt?” he asked.

      She shook her head, though her eyes appeared dull. She clutched a silk handkerchief in her hand as if her life depended on it.

      Kaifeng left her in the corner to approach the desk. At his first glimpse of the scene, his mind had receded. His natural instincts refused to accept or understand that what he was seeing was real, but he forced himself to look closely now.

      There was a body seated in the chair dressed in a brocade robe. The head was missing and there was blood everywhere, splattered over the papers and staining the floor and walls.

      “He was alive when they took off his head,” Kaifeng observed.

      A gasp came from behind him. Mingyu was staring at him incredulously. Then her gaze returned to the headless body. If she could have disappeared into the wall, she would have.

      “Do you wish to be elsewhere?” he asked.

      A strangled sound escaped her lips, halfway between a cry and a laugh. Finally she nodded.

      Kaifeng spared one final glance at the body, noting its position and taking quick stock of the surrounding items, before going to Mingyu’s side. He didn’t know if he should reach for her, but she seemed unable to move or look away. Taking a firm, yet careful grip on her arm, he directed Mingyu toward the door. After a moment’s resistance, she surrendered and went with him.

      Once outside in the sunlight, her knees gave away. Kaifeng caught her in both hands. Mingyu’s soft weight momentarily sank against him, but she shoved him away to sink onto a wooden bench beneath the willow. He stood back while she struggled to find her breath. This was the Lady Mingyu he’d come to know—stubborn and determined not to show any sign of weakness.

      “Who is that inside?” he asked.

      “General Deng Zhi.” Her voice wavered despite her efforts. “He had just returned to the capital.”

      “The general is your lover?”

      She looked like she was about to break into pieces. “Not any longer.”

      If what Mingyu said was true, one of the most highly ranked men in the empire had been killed not twenty paces from where he stood. He had to investigate the details of the death and report his findings to the magistrate immediately.

      He looked down to Mingyu. “Did you send that boy to find me?”

      She nodded, her hand trailing to her throat. Some of her color had returned, but she was far from composed.

      “Do not leave this house,” he commanded. “If you flee now, I will have to consider you suspect in this murder.”

      “If I wanted to run away, I wouldn’t have called you here,” she said irritably. Pressing the handkerchief to her nose, Mingyu presented him the hard point of her shoulder. “And I know that you consider me suspect, anyway.”

      Her directness caught him off guard. If he knew anything about Mingyu, it was that she was unpredictable. After making sure she wouldn’t faint or lose her stomach, Kaifeng returned to the chamber.

      He had seen death before. He’d witnessed it in battle as well as at public executions. The macabre scene was in many ways more shocking now than it had been on first sight. This time, Kaifeng noted the minute details he’d overlooked before. The body had fallen back against the chair and remained sitting. The neck protruded in a bloody stump. The headless torso seemed to be reclined comfortably in the chair, his last pose before leaving this world.

      It was hard to believe a fighting man like Deng wouldn’t have managed to stand and defend himself in any way.

      The blow had to have come from the front with the attacker facing the general. He noted the splatter around the chair and desk, and the lurid, metallic smell of fresh blood assaulted him. Gritting his teeth, Kaifeng walked around the desk and searched the floor. There was no head or murder weapon to be found.

      Glancing up, Kaifeng could see Mingyu out in the garden. She remained on the bench where he’d left her with her head bowed. The position emphasized the graceful curve of her neck and the slenderness of her shoulders, making her appear vulnerable through the frame of the door.

      Her robe was made up of shimmering layers of yellow silk and gold embroidery. The bodice was enticingly low, leaving her shoulders bared except for a shawl of the thinnest gauze wrapped around her. She had certainly come ready to visit a lover. His stomach twisted at the thought.

      Her mere presence distracted him and he couldn’t allow that to happen. This was his duty and his calling and he needed to remain sharp to solve this puzzle, a puzzle that the courtesan was inexplicably a part of. A puzzle that Mingyu was making more complicated.

      Kaifeng returned to the courtyard and breathed in the clean air, letting it fill his lungs and clear his head. Lady Mingyu didn’t raise her head even when he went to stand immediately before her. The pearl ornament in her hairpin caught his eye. A similar piece of jewelry had implicated her in another murder a year earlier.

      “Once again I find you connected to a dead body,” he said.

      “I know how this must seem.”

      Mingyu wouldn’t look up at him as she spoke. It could be a sign of guilt, but it could be a sign of many things. She had belonged to the general and everyone in the Pingkang li had known it. Was she grieving for him now? Or had she somehow been involved in his death?

      “I must notify Magistrate Li and summon my men to come retrieve the general’s body. Then you will need to come with me for questioning.”

      “Of course, Constable.”

      Her head tilted back slowly as if it were weighted down with lead. When she met his gaze, her eyes were fathomless. “I knew you would track me down regardless. That was why I sought you out.” Yellow silk whispered around her as she rose. “To save us both the trouble.”

      * * *

      MINGYU REMAINED BENEATH the shade of the willow tree as Constable Wu sent for a prison wagon to transport the body. When the other constables arrived, he instructed them to seal off the front gate and begin a search of the surrounding area. He was undaunted and efficient, an inhuman force, as if he had seen death a hundred times before.

      By the time Wu Kaifeng came for her, Mingyu had stopped shaking. As she followed the constable into the street, she pulled her shawl tight around her shoulders even though the midmorning sun rose high in the sky. The chill that encased her came from within. It couldn’t be banished by the thickest of cloaks.

      A covered litter was waiting outside the gate. Four bearers sprang to their feet and moved into position beside the poles while Mingyu glanced at Wu in surprise. He’d summoned transportation for her rather than requiring that she ride in the prison wagon. The gesture provided her with a measure of privacy and could have been considered thoughtful. Wu said nothing of it as he drew aside the curtain for her.

      Mingyu climbed inside the compartment and the curtain fell over the front, shielding her away from the world. The litter then rose, hefted onto the shoulders of the bearers outside, and Mingyu let her head sink onto her hands.

      Deng Zhi was dead.

      She didn’t know what to feel. The general had been her patron for so long that it was impossible not to feel an emptiness in her chest. The general had been invincible in her eyes. Untouchable even by the Emperor.

      Deng had barely spoken a word to her the first time she’d come to his bed. She hadn’t been a virgin, but she was young. Mingyu had been afraid there would be pain, that the general would be rough. All things considered, he hadn’t been careless with her, but Deng had held his hand over her throat the entire time, with her pulse beating frantically beneath his hand.

      Deng had wanted no doubt in her mind that he owned her. Whenever he returned to the city, she still felt the weight of that hand, ready to bestow life or take it crushingly away.

      And

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