Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [266]
Emperor Zhu cleared his throat. "Stand down, young hero," he said quietly. He was the ruler of the Celestial Empire of Ch'in, and the Son of Heaven. Bao lowered his gaze a fraction. Everyone else stood gazing in fascination at the unfolding drama. The Emperor stroked his chin, choosing his words with care. "I have known your master since before you were born, and he was old when I was a child. Today I heard Lo Feng Tzu say that he had lived too long, to see the son of his heart slain by the son of his blood."
Bao glanced at him, his brow furrowed in pain.
"He never told you, did he?" The Emperor smiled sadly. "Perhaps sometimes even the wisest among us become too caught up in duty and honor to say the words that matter most. Your master chose his end. I, too, am a doting father. I knew what Lo Feng Tzu intended when he spoke those words. No one else did. Do not blame them. I chose to respect your master's sacrifice. I suggest you do the same."
"It's not…" Bao's voice broke. "It's not that easy, Celestial Majesty. You see, I was dead, and—"
"And now you are not."
"No." Bao touched his chest, where half of my diadh-anam burned bright as a flame inside him, calling to me. His eyes met mine. "Now I am not."
He bowed three times to the Emperor, bowed three times to his daughter. He bowed to me, low and lingering, and there was a farewell in it.
My heart constricted. "Where are you going?"
"I don't know."
* * *
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
It was the glimpse of the stone doorway that made me remember. I awoke from a deep sleep, gasping. The memory was clear, so clear, even if the jumble of remembered voices that accompanied it wasn't.
You would do well to remember the wise-woman when the time comes.
Mayhap the gift will pass to her one day. After all, it has to pass to someone.
Old Nemed, chewing her lips.
I had a scar on my right hand, a tiny scar on the web of skin between my thumb and forefinger. I didn't remember how I'd gotten it. That was important.
Memories.
After I had passed through the stone doorway, I had begun to see vivid glimpses of others' memories. Raphael's memory of his parents' death. The blood-drenched horror of Snow Tiger's wedding night. Bao's memory of the naked, shivering boy who had grown up to become Ten Tigers Dai. Master Lo's poignant memory of a happy toddler playing with the dragon's pearl.
Those memories had not been offered freely, and I had done nothing more than bear witness to them. But if they had been offered for the taking…
A profound, wordless sense of understanding blossomed within me. I thought mayhap I knew how Old Nemed wielded her gift.
Across the room, the princess stirred in her berth. "Moirin?" Her voice was drowsy. "What is it?"
I shook myself more fully alert, remembering where I was, and why. We were in a very pleasant home vacated for Imperial usage by the governor of the village nearest the battlefield. It was three days since Bao's death and rebirth, and he had not yet returned. I knew where he was—or at least the direction he'd gone. I could point it out unerringly, anchored by the lodestone of my diadh-anam.
He had not gone far.
But that was not important to anyone in the Celestial Empire of Ch'in but me. What was important was that on the morrow, every soldier in Lord Jiang Quan's army with any knowledge of the workings of the Divine Thunder was sentenced to be executed.
Unless…
I rose from my bed, pacing restlessly. "There may be a way, my lady. A better way, a way the people would embrace. If I can do it." I shivered. "I am not sure. I am not sure I have the gift, or the strength and courage to wield it."
Snow Tiger sat upright. "Tell me."
I slipped a silk outer robe over my sleeping clothes. "I need to walk. I need to think, and I can't think indoors."
She rose without comment to accompany me, shaking her head in silent refusal at a sleepy maidservant who came in to see if we needed aught.
Outside,