Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [198]
The dragon…
LET HER GO!
The furious roar in my head didn't quite drown out Snow Tiger's high, fierce cry. Driven by the dragon's fury, she dropped the scarf in her hands and flung herself forward, hitting the iron bars with terrible force. The bars screeched and bent. She caught sight of the mirror and froze, then flung herself forward again, howling. With the twilight banished, the dragon could no longer see his reflection, and it maddened him further, the enormity of his rage driving the princess like a goad.
"Cover the mirror!" I shouted. "Cover the bedamned mirror!"
Bao dashed to obey, a wary eye on the princess. Once the mirror was covered, she made a great effort to wrestle herself under control, squeezing her eyes shut and tying the scarf in place.
Attendants seized me again, forcing me to my knees. The Emperor drew a long, curved sword. "You bring a barbarian witch to torment my daughter, old friend?" he asked Master Lo, his voice filled with grief and menace. "What manner of betrayal is this?"
"Father!" Snow Tiger called. "Let her go!"
"Hush, child," he said over his shoulder. "You don't know yourself."
"It is not so!" she said in frustration. "Noble Father, I beg you, spare the foreign woman and let her speak."
Master Lo's face was pale, but composed. He folded his hands in his sleeves. "I urge you to heed your daughter's plea, Celestial Majesty. My pupil's people have a gift for magic and her destiny has led her to this place. If you wish to hear what she has to say, I suggest you let her keep her head. Your daughter's fate may depend on it."
Emperor Zhu hesitated, knuckles white on his sword-hilt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bao sidling closer, trying to decide if saving my life was worth assaulting the Son of Heaven. I shook my head at him, sure it would be his death sentence if he did.
"Let her up." The Emperor sheathed his blade brusquely and nodded at me. "Speak."
I rose unsteadily, only now beginning to tremble. I breathed the Breath of Earth's Pulse until I could speak. "It's not a demon. It's a dragon." I pointed to the embroidered crimson figures swirling on his robes. "Like that, only white. Like the dragon on Lord Jiang's standard," I added. "It's trapped inside her. I don't know how or why, but it is."
Master Lo paled further, an involuntary sound escaping from him. That shocked me as much as anything that had transpired.
"It's true." Snow Tiger clutched the iron bars hard enough to make them creak in protest, but her blindfold was in place and she maintained control. "Father, I saw it."
"Sorcery," Emperor Zhu said grimly.
"No, old friend." Master Lo's voice was faint, but steady. It grew stronger as he spoke. "I fear she speaks the truth."
A memory that made no sense surfaced in his thoughts. A toddler, plump and merry as any of Bao's imaginary babies, playing with a shimmering pearl the size of a ball. I blinked and frowned, not comprehending.
Master Lo met my gaze for a long, grave moment, then turned to Snow Tiger. "Noble Princess, someone gave you a drink the night of your wedding, did they not?"
"You did, Master," she said in perplexity. "That is, I drank the tonic that you gave to Lord Jiang's physician to hold in keeping for my wedding night." Beneath the blindfold, her cheeks turned faintly pink. I could hazard a guess at the tonic's intended effect.
My mentor nodded. "And you had no cause not to trust Lord Jiang's own physician. It tasted of vinegar, did it not?"
"Yes. Why?"
He took a few steps, turning away from all of us. "It is well known that a dragon hides the essence of his spirit in a great pearl," he said in a low tone. "As it is well known that a pearl dissolves in vinegar. When I was a young man, I did many foolish things in the pursuit of ambition. One of these things was to lull a dragon to sleep and steal his pearl."
Two things came together in my mind.
"Oh, gods!" I blurted out the words without thinking. It made sense. The child. The pearl. "Lord Jiang's physician,