Tang slowly brought his gaze back to Ruha. “If I answer, you must drink potion.”
Ruha nearly choked on her anger, but she forced herself to give him a beguiling smile. “Of course, assuming you do not convince me to stay.”
“That is most wonderful possibility.” The prince looked away, and again his voice grew low and ashamed. “Cypress does not allow me to leave cult. He says even prince cannot break promise to dragon. He sinks all my ships until I promise to smuggle poisons for his murderers and spell ingredients for his wu-jens. The trade is most lucrative, but I cannot sleep.”
Ruha cringed to think of what would trouble Tang’s conscience. “But why would he attack one of your ships now? You are still doing as he demands?”
Tang’s head spun back to Ruha. “He attacks one of my ships?”
“Yes, the Ginger Lady.”
The prince’s face paled to the color of ivory, but it was Wei Dao who demanded, “How do you know this?”
“Because that is when I destroyed him.” Ruha’s fingers finally managed to undo the rope around her ankles, but the witch made no move to escape. “He did not sink the ship—it did not appear that he was trying—but if you are still smuggling poisons for the cult, I do not understand why he attacked it at all.”
The prince turned to his wife. “He wissshes to kill Hsieh!”
The princess promptly shook her head. “Cypress grows impatient. It isss only warning.”
“What good is warning we do not hear about?” Tang countered. “He fearsss Hsieh comes to ssstop smuggling.”
“How can Cypress know esssteemed mandarin is on Ginger Lady? Even we do not know until lassst week.”
Tang considered Wei Dao’s point for a moment; then the color came back to his face. He returned his attention to Ruha.
“I tell you about Cult of the Dragon.” He lifted the chalice to her mouth. “Now you drink.”
Ruha turned away from the awful smell. “You have not told me why you still fear the cult, when you know I have already destroyed Cypress.”
“Perhaps I do not believe you have.” Tang swung the cup around to her lips. “Drink.”
This time, Ruha did not turn away. It seemed reasonable for Tang to assume she might lie about destroying Cypress, but she still had not discovered what the cult needed to complete the theft of Yanseldara’s spirit. She held her breath and, very briefly, touched her lips to the cup rim—then pulled away and looked into the prince’s eyes.
“Before drinking, I must be certain there is no hope of resolving our differences. Allow me one more question.”
Tang groaned and lowered the awful-smelling potion. “Ask.”
“What more—”
Ruha’s question was interrupted by the muffled barking of a Shou voice outside the vault; then the steel door swung open. Into the chamber swept four men wearing long, yellow hauberks of silk-jacketed scale armor. Emblazoned on each of their chests was a scarlet wyvern, the personal crest of the Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu.
Upon seeing the crest, both Tang and Wei Dao gasped. The prince barely managed to stand by the time the minister’s assistant, the obsequious Yu Po, strode into the room. He stopped just inside the door and, still flanked by Hsieh’s guards, regarded Ruha’s captors with a disdainful sneer.
Yu Po tipped his body forward in a discourteously shallow bow. “I am Yu Po, Consssummate Scribe to Esssteemed Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu.”
The intrusion shocked Ruha as much as it did Tang and Wei Dao. The refinery vault was hidden in a secret basement beneath the palace’s great spicehouse. Even had she anticipated Hsieh’s arrival so early in the day, she would no more have expected Yu Po to search out and intrude upon the prince and princess here than in their private apartments.
“Welcome to Ginger Palace,” said Tang, still holding the ylang potion. Both he and his wife returned the scribe’s bow with surprising deference. “We expect Minister Hsieh’s arrival for many daysss now.”
“We encounter many delaysss,” Yu Po returned coldly.
“Pleassse excuse us,” said Wei Dao. “We join esteemed Mandarin in Hall of Amity, but firssst we must dispose of intruding thief”
Wei Dao waved a hand in Ruha’s direction and drew an angry glare from Prince Tang, who would no doubt now find it most awkward to present the witch to anyone in Hsieh’s party as either wife or concubine. Not knowing what else to do, Ruha remained on her knees and pretended she was still bound. If escape had looked barely feasible before, when she had to contend only with the lightning fast reflexes of Tang and Wei Dao, it now seemed impossible.
Yu Po studied Ruha for a few moments; then, in Common, he said, “It is difficult to say what Lady Ruha is, but it seems most unlikely she is thief.”
“You know her?” Wei Dao gasped.
In the same instant, Prince Tang whirled on Ruha. “Lady Ruha?” he demanded, looking hurt. “You do not tell me you are lady! Is it custom where you come from to be one man’s concubine and become another’s wife?”
Yu Po arched his thin eyebrows. “First she is thief, then she is wife?” He chuckled, then said, “So sorry, but wedding must wait.” The adjutant motioned a pair of guards toward Ruha.
Both Tang and Wei Dao paled and quickly stepped in front of the witch. “She is guest of Ginger Palace,” Tang declared. “You may not take her without my permission.”
Yu Po’s eyes grew as black as obsidian. “Then you come outside and explain this to Minister Hsieh,” the adjutant growled. “After treatment Esteemed Mandarin receives from barbarians, he is most happy to hear that you defy him, I am sure.”
Tang glanced at his wife, then asked, “What barbarians?”
Yu Po’s face darkened. “Vaerana Hawklyn and her company of knaves!” He was sounding more angry all the time. “First they dare to surround Emperor’s caravan and search wagons for what they call ‘contraband’— Esteemed Mandarin is most interested to learn why Ministry of Spices does not know of trade in oleander leaves and puffer fish venom—and now they insult Emperor by holding Minister Hsieh hostage!”
“Hostage?” Tang gasped.
Yu Po nodded. “As we approach Ginger Palace, Lady Ruha’s half-man rushes down road and claims to Vaerana Hawklyn that you abduct his mistress. Minister Hsieh promises her release, but savage woman refuses his gracious offer and declares she does not release Emperor’s caravan until witch is free.”
Ruha cursed Vaerana for a meddling interloper. The Lady Constable had just destroyed any hope that remained of discovering what the cult needed to complete the theft of Yanseldara’s spirit.
Yu Po glanced at Ruha’s kneeling form, then leveled a stern gaze at Tang. “Do you still wish to keep ‘guest’ locked inside Ginger Palace?”
“No.” The prince kneeled before Ruha and held the silver chalice to her lips. “She is free to leave as soon as she drinks potion.”
Ruha grimaced at the reek of the syrupy elixir. She took her hands from behind her back and roughly pushed the cup away, then rose to her feet. “I have no wish to drink that rancid stuff.”
The jaws of both Tang and Wei Dao fell when they saw the seared bonds hanging from her ankles and wrists. The prince managed to recover his wits quickly enough to grab her arm and thrust the potion toward her face. “You break promise!”
“I said I would drink a potion of forgetfulness,” Ruha snapped. “That is a love potion, and I assure you that without fresh ylang blossoms, it could not possibly be strong enough.”
With that, the witch brushed past her astonished captors. She snatched her jambiya off a table, then stepped into the protection of Yu Po and his guards. “Will you please take me out of here?”