He heard a noise in the passageway outside and turned, tensing instinctively; then he relaxed, smiling.
The three girls bowed deeply, then came into the room, Little Bee making her way across to him, while Tender Willow and Sweet Rain busied themselves elsewhere in the room.
Little Bee knelt before him then looked up, her sweet, unaffected smile lifting his spirits, bringing a breath of youth and gaiety to his old heart.
"How are you this evening, good father?"
"I am fine." He lied, warmed by the sight of her. "And you, Mi Feng?"
"The better for seeing you, my Lord."
He laughed softly, then leaned forward, and touched her head gently, affectionately. Little Bee had been with him six years now, since her tenth birthday. She was like a daughter to him.
He turned, enjoying the familiar sight of his girls moving about the room, readying things for him. For a while it dispelled his previous mood, made him forget the darkness he had glimpsed inside and out. He let Little Bee remove his pau and sit him, naked, in a chair; then he closed his eyes and let his head fall back while she began to rub his chest and arms with oils. As ever, the gentle pressure of her hands against his skin roused him. Tender Willow came and held the bowl with the lavender glaze while Sweet Rain gave him ease, her soft, thin-boned fingers caressing him with practiced strokes until he spilled his seed. Then Little Bee washed him there, and, making him stand, bound him up in a single yellow-silk cloth before bringing a fresh sleeping garment.
He looked down at her tiny, delicate form as she stood before him, fastening his cloak, and felt a small shiver pass through him. Little Bee looked up, concerned.
"Are you sure you are all right, Father? Should I ask one of your wives to come to you?"
"It's nothing, Mi Feng. And no, I'll sleep alone tonight."
She fastened the last of the tiny, difficult buttons, looking up into his face a moment, then looked down again, frowning. "I worry for you, Chieh Hsia," she said, turning away to take a brush from the table at her side. "Some days you seem to carry the whole world's troubles on your shoulders."
He smiled and let her push him down gently into the chair again. "1 am Seven, Mi Feng. Who else should carry the burden of Chung Kuo?"
She was silent a moment, her fingers working to unbind his tightly braided queue. Then, leaning close, she whispered in his ear. "Your son," she said. "Why not make Ta-hung your regent?"
He laughed shortly, unamused. "And make Hung Mien-lo, that rascal friend of his, a T'ang in all but name?" He looked at her sharply. "Has he been talking to you?"
"Has who been talking to me, Father? I was thinking only of your health. You need more time to yourself."
He laughed, seeing how free from subterfuge she was. "Forget what 1 said, Mi Feng. Besides, I enjoy my duties."
She was brushing out his hair now, from scalp to tip, her tiny, perfectly formed body swaying gently, enticingly, beside him with each passage of the brush. He could see her in the mirror across the room, her silks barely veiling her nakedness.
He sighed and closed his eyes again, overcome by a strange mixture of emotions. Most men would envy me, he thought. And yet some days I think myself accursed. These girls . . . they would do whatever I wished, without a moment's hesitation; yet there is no joy in the thought. My sons are dead. How could joy survive such heartbreak?
He shuddered and stood up abruptly, surprising Little Bee, making the others turn and look across. They watched him walk briskly to the mirror and stand there as if in pain, grimacing into the glass. Then he turned back, his face bitter.
"Ta-hung!" he said scathingly, throwing himself down into the chair again. "I was a fool to let that one be bom!"
There was a shocked intake of breath from the three girls. It was unlike Wang Hsien to say such things. Little Bee looked to the others and nodded, then waited until they were gone before speaking to him again.
She knelt, looking up into his face, concerned. "What is it, Wang Hsien? What eats at you like poison?"
"My sons!" he said in sudden agony. "My sons are dead!"
"Not all your sons," she answered gently, taking his hands in her own. "Wang Ta-hung yet lives. And Wang Sau-leyan."
"A weakling and a libertine!" he said bitterly, not looking at her, staring past her into space. "I had two fine, strong sons. Good, upstanding men with all their mother's finest qualities. And now—" He shivered violently and looked at her, his features racked with pain, his hands gripping hers tightly. "This war has taken everything, Mi Feng. Everything. Some days I think it has left me hollow, emptied of all I was."
"No . . ." she said, sharing his pain. "No, my Lord. Not everything."
He let her hands fall from his and stood again, turning away from her and staring at the door that led out onto the balcony.
"It is the most bitter lesson," he said fiercely, "that a man might own the world and yet have nothing."
Little Bee swallowed and looked down. She had seen her master in many moods, but never like this.
She turned, realizing there was someone in the chamber with them. It was Sun Li Hua. He stood in the doorway, his head bowed. In his hands was the bowl with the lavender glaze Tender Willow had taken out to him only moments earlier.
"Chieh Hsia?"
Wang Hsien turned abruptly, facing the newcomer, clearly angered by the interruption. Then he seemed to collect himself and dropped his head slightly. He looked across at Little Bee and with a forced smile dismissed her.
"Good night, Chieh Hsia," she said softly, backing away. "May Kuan Yin bring you peace."
SUN LI HUA stood there after the maid had gone, perfectly still, awaiting his master's orders.
"Come in, Master Sun," Wang Hsien said after a moment. He turned away and walked slowly across the room, sitting down heavily on his bed.
"Are you all right, Chieh Hsia?" Sun Li Hua asked. He set the bowl down on the small table at the bedside then looked at his master. "Has one of the maids done something to upset you?"
Wang Hsien glanced at his Master of the Inner Chamber almost without recognition, then shook his head irritably. "What is this?" he said, pointing at the bowl.
"It is your sleeping potion, Chieh Hsia. Lotus seeds mixed with your own life elixir. It should help you sleep."
Wang Hsien took a deep, shuddering breath, then reached out and took the bowl in one hand, sipping from it. The ho yeh was slightly bitter to the taste—a bitterness augmented by the salt tang of his own yang essence, his semen—but not unpleasant. He drained the bowl, then looked back at Sun Li Hua, holding out the empty bowl for him to take. "You will wake me at five, yes?"
Sun Li Hua took the bowl and backed away, bowing again. "Of course, Chieh Hsia."
Sun Li Hua watched the old T'ang turn and slide his legs between the sheets, lower his head onto the pillow, and pull the covers up about his shoulders. Two minutes, he thought; that's all the good Doctor Yueh said it would take.
Sun Li Hua moved back, beneath the camera, waiting in the doorway until he heard the old T'ang's breathing change. Then, setting the bowl down, he took a key from inside his silks and reached up, opening a panel high up in the door's frame. It popped back, revealing a tiny keyboard and a timer unit. Quickly he punched the combination. The timer froze, two amber lights appearing at the top of the panel.
He counted to ten, then touched the EJECT panel. At once a thin, transparent card dropped into the tray beneath the keyboard. He slipped it into his pocket, put its replacement into the slot at the side, and punched SET.