She unfurled her wings and soared down to the palace, gliding on a current of air. The previous year she had been a prisoner in the palace, unable to leave. Doors and walls were obstacles then, not just the enchanted stone lions and dragons. Now she could flutter over them without the meiwood cricket.
Gliding over the concubines’ garden, her flight shielded by the trees, she came to the building adjacent to the training yard for Xisi’s guards. Soundlessly she landed. The chatter of birds filled the air as they greeted the day with their song. She’d chosen the time not only for the cover of darkness but also because many birds would be active. Crouching in the shadow of the wall, she reached out to the birds nearby and used their eyes and senses. Based on the view from the windows, the building seemed deserted.
Bingmei rose and walked purposefully around the corner toward the entrance. She suspected Xisi’s guards wouldn’t have a warning smell—most of them had probably been stripped of their spirit-soul like Zhuyi—so she would have to rely on her other senses to guide her, especially sound. Moving carefully, ears perked, she hurried into the changing room and snatched a set of silk clothes that would add to her disguise. Rather than change in the building, where she might be caught, she hastened to a copse of trees outside the training yard and switched clothes in the cover they provided. She cinched up the belt and examined herself. Warriors were allowed weapons and only female warriors were allowed inside these precincts. She’d blend right in.
The Phoenix Blade tugged at her from the Hall of Memory, and she could also sense Rowen in the Hall of Unity. Was he still asleep? She wanted to visit him, to whisper that she was coming for him and that the lies he’d been told about her weren’t true. Her heart burned with memories, but she swatted them down. Before she did anything else, she needed to save Shixian.
In her mind, she summoned the siskin. The bird came promptly. It gave a low warble in greeting and then flapped away and began to guide her as it had done beyond the Death Wall. She stalked through the trees for a time, but the bird led her to the open walkways connecting the inner buildings in the queen’s portion of the compound. Breathing quickly, her nerves pulling taut, she focused on her surroundings, smelling the air. Listening for pursuers. She caught a whiff of emotion from an open window she passed. Someone was awake and dreading the day to come. It wasn’t the smell of anyone she recognized.
The siskin, flying from building to building overhead, led her to a small, secluded building with a curved rooftop. It was a long bank of rooms, and all the doors were closed. Each room had two upper windows, and the siskin perched at the edge of one of them. From its gaze, she saw that there were also two windows on the other side, which faced an alley.
Standing beneath the window, she smelled the sweet cinnamon of a mother’s love coming from the windows. Bingmei heard one of the doors down the corridor open. Not wanting to be caught in the open, she leaped into the air and flew up to the sloped roof, where she immediately dropped to a low crouch.
A few moments later, she heard the brisk slap of footsteps as someone walked down the hall. She smelled a burst of anxiety, and a low-level servant hustled down the walkway where she had just been. The woman passed Bingmei’s position, oblivious to the fact that someone was crouched above her on the roof. The servant was gone a few moments later.
Bingmei, not wanting her weight to cause the roof to creak, flew to the other side, where the siskin still hovered by the open windows. Through the bird’s eyes, she was able to see into the room, and she recognized the concubine who was caring for her son. The woman was already dressed in formal robes, which she had just finished rearranging after feeding the baby. She rose and held Shixian, patting his back gently and humming a soothing song. Bingmei watched the woman’s face, full of tenderness toward the child, and felt a confusing blend of resentment and gratitude. Much better that Shixian should be with this woman than with Xisi.
Bingmei wanted to fly into the room and snatch her baby away, but she bided her time, watching to see what the woman did next. The room was not nearly as lush as Xisi’s chambers, but it was a pleasant space equipped with a wooden cradle and a formal bed veiled with curtains. A few ornate tables were set with porcelain bowls and decorative figurines.
The woman kissed Shixian’s brow several times before nuzzling his cheek with her nose. He’d fallen asleep in her embrace, and she gently laid him back inside the cradle.
The concubine crouched near the cradle, gazing at him, and a pained look came on her face. Bingmei could smell her loss, the grief of having her own daughter destroyed. A tear trickled down the woman’s cheek. Even though her expression was peaceful, her heart raged with resentment, despair, and grief as well as tenderness and love. It was a complex mash of feelings.
The concubine sighed heavily. “I must go, baobei. I’ll come again to feed you. Rest here until the wretched queen comes to see you. I wish you were my own. Sleep, sweetest. We are both prisoners here.” She grazed his cheek before rising. Her gaze shifted to the brazier, and she added some coals to it before walking to the door. Bingmei watched
