Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [197]
"Truly?" Her voice was low. "After so long, he is here?"
Emperor Zhu's strong hands gripped the iron bars that divided them. "Truly, Noble Daughter."
My diadh-anam flickered and flared. I felt dizzy. I shook my head, trying to clear it, while Master Lo examined her through the bars. He felt the pulses in her wrists, studied her tongue, listened to the sound of her breathing. She bore it patiently, doubtless having been through the like a hundred times before.
With Bao's assistance, he lit a taper of incense that gave off prodigious amounts of fragrant smoke, waving it around her. The smoke writhed and coiled in intricate patterns.
Coiled like… what?
"Forgive me, Noble Princess." Master Lo's voice sounded genuinely apologetic. "I must ask you to remove the blindfold." He nodded at the attendants. "Unveil the mirror."
Snow Tiger bowed her head in acquiescence, hands rising to undo the knot. "Step away from the bars, please. You must be sure your people are safe."
"Do as her highness bids," he agreed. "Step away."
I meant to—gods know, I did! And yet I didn't. Instead, I stood rooted to the spot and summoned the twilight without thinking, breathing it in deep. As the crimson blindfold fluttered to the ground and Snow Tiger opened her eyes, I flung the twilight around both of us.
And a half-step into the world beyond, I saw.
I caught my breath.
Her head turned, unerring. Something not human looked out from her eyes, looked out and saw itself reflected in mine. She was not alone in her body. Silver-white brightness coiled and uncoiled throughout her being.
You see me.
The voice in my thoughts crashed and echoed like mountains falling.
"I see you," I murmured in awe.
You see me! It thundered, male and triumphant. You see me! I see myself in you!
"What is it?" The Ch'in princess stood very straight and still, her dark gaze with unspeakable brightness behind it fixed on my face. "You are a foreigner. Why are you here? What have you done? Who are you?"
Somewhere, half a world away, alarm was rising. I concentrated on breathing, tuning out the frantic mortal voices.
"Moirin," I said firmly. "I am Moirin mac Fainche of the Maghuin Dhonn, my lady. And I bid you to look." In the gloaming light, I reached through the bars and turned her chin toward the full-length mirror that Master Lo had ordered brought. "Look and see."
There was no lovely Ch'in princess reflected there. There was only the infinite coils of a dragon, twining and untwining, pearlescent white scales gleaming in the depths of the mirror. As I watched, it raised its bearded, long-jowled head with joy.
You see me!
"I see it," Snow Tiger breathed. She put one slender arm through the bars, her splayed fingertips touching the mirror. "Oh! I thought it would be hideous. But it's beautiful, so beautiful."
I didn't know…
The memory not my own surfaced. Desire, shuddering pleasure; an awakening onto dawning horror. Blindness. Thrashing panic, soft flesh tearing in the pursuit of unattainable freedom. And blood—gods! So much blood.
I felt sick.
"The dragon awoke inside you while you were making love with your bridegroom," I whispered. "He didn't know. He was only trying to free himself."
Her throat worked. "How? How did this happen?"
I shook my head. "I don't know." The sounds of alarm were growing. My grip on the twilight wavered. "My lady, we'd best go back."
STAY!
I winced at the volume of the dragon's voice in my head. Desire and panic, twined together, roiled through me. Snow Tiger caught my hand, nearly crushing it in an inhumanly strong grip. I forced myself to breathe through the pain. "I'm here," I said to the immortal being behind her eyes. "Be gentle. It's all right. I'm not really going away. It's only blindness, only for a little while. Can you endure it?"
For you, I will try.
The princess nodded in agreement, her grip loosening.
I eased my hand away and stooped to pick up her scarf. "Cover your eyes."
When I loosed the twilight, the world crashed down upon us, filled with chaos and shouting. Hands grabbed my arms, yanking