She took three steps toward Mai. Priya stepped forward as if to place her own body between the two women, but Mai put out a hand to restrain her. Anji's mother was only looking, studying Mai with a gaze not truly hostile but something Mai had no name for anc no experience with. She herself measured fabric in the market with such a gaze, trying discern which would best suit her uses and which was not worth her time or coin. But you did not measure people as you measured goods in the marketplace.
Eihi! Of course folk did.
They did it all the time.
She folded her hands in front of her and said nothing, only returned that gaze without flinching.
Anji's mother nodded, a flicker of a smile flashing. Was that a dimple, like Anji's? It was already gone.
'You are more formidable even than I had supposed. Let us speak bluntly, then. Have you a price?'
'Let us speak bluntly, then. I do not have a price.'
'Do you think it unreasonable of me to insist that my son make such an advantageous marriage?'
Obedience choked her. Duty choked her. Truth choked her. Powerful men commonly took two wives, multiple concubines. Clans made alliances for mutual benefit. In contracts, in business, love meant nothing.
'I see,' said Anji's mother. 'You understand perfectly well that it is not an unreasonable demand. But let us imagine that my son is too proud and stubborn to see you relegated to the status and rank of concubine, even if that is what you are in the eyes of any person born of noble blood and to high, rank. Such distinctions often mean a great deal to the common people. Let us say that for a merchant's daughter, status as a concubine would be seen as lowering, shameful, even dishonorable. Would you therefore object to a position as his second wife, for certainly an emperor's sister must be designated his chief wife? There is no shame or disgrace in standing as the second wife to a prince.'
Once she could have borne it in silence, let words wash over her and away. She had long ago determined to live life in her own way and on her own terms by holding a part of herself aside as a garden in which she could nurture a seedbed of personal, private happiness. In those days, she had been careful to hide her true feelings in order to never anger others, because if they were angry they might disturb the tranquil sanctuary she had so carefully constructed.
But now, it seemed, she no longer feared making other people angry. The girl she had been had passed through the Spirit Gate and become a woman whose voice she scarcely recognized as her lips opened and she spoke.
'You forget, verea, that in the Hundred Anji is not a prince. He is not an emperor's son, or an emperor's brother, or a var's nephew. Such titles mean nothing here. He is a militia captain, a man who works for coin just like everyone else. He is no greater or lesser than I am. If I walk first in his heart, why should I then agree to step back and become second?'
'To save his life. And the life of your handsome son.'
Priya gasped. O'eki gave an inarticulate exclamation.
The ground lurched beneath Mai, or perhaps that was only her hammering heart and dizzied head as she stumbled to the cot and placed her body between the baby and his grandmother.
Who smiled, not unkindly. 'Perhaps you now understand me. There is no abyss as fathomless as a mother's fear for her child. There is no beast who will fight more fiercely than a mother
defending her child. So understand me in this. Anjihosh's son is as precious to me as Anjihosh himself. I am not the one you need fear in the matter of the boy.'
'Then why do you threaten Atani?'
'I do not threaten Atanihosh. I am endeavoring to make you understand that with my aid and cooperation you can ensure the baby's survival.'
'If I relinquish my place as Anji's wife.'
'If you give way, as is proper, to a woman whose rank and birth lie far above your own. It would be best for you to leave the household entirely.'
'Taking my son with me?'
The woman had the audacity to look startled. 'Only Anjihosh and I can protect him!'
'Is this your argument? To abandon my son into the arms of a woman who speaks of his death?'
'Mistress,' said Priya warningly.
'I will never leave him with you!'
She expected anger in response, but in her fury and fear she had forgotten the way the Qin veiled their faces with a bland expression that concealed any and every emotion.
'Do not cross me, pretty girl, because you will discover I have survived far worse in the palace than you can possibly imagine. I offer you two choices: I pay you handsomely to depart, and you may walk free to establish yourself as you wish and where you wish as long as it is not beside my son. Or you accept a place in his household as second wife, accepting the primacy of the princess and my authority to rule over any disputes such as may arise within the household.'
'Mistress,' said Priya urgently.
'No,' said Mai.
Her breathing caught in her chest as she fought to expel the fury that rose like a haze. All she could feel was the pressure of the carpet's dense weave pressing up against her bare soles, and the faintly oily taste of air flavored by flames that consumed the reservoirs of lamps.
Voices rose angrily outside. The curtain was swept aside, and Anji strode into the room.
'Hu! Hot in here.'
His voice pretended at evenness, but he was furious: his boots were still on, his gloves were still on. He never came into their
intimate chamber dressed for riding; he had far better manners than that. He was tapping his riding whip against his thigh as though better that than a vicious slash across the face.
'I received a message, Honored Mother, saying you had urgent trouble that warranted my immediate attention. Yet when I went up to the house, I was told to cool my heels while you were roused. Time passed as I waited with obedient patience. At length, I realized I had been outflanked. Now I am here.'
Mai wanted desperately to call him over, to flaunt him standing beside her, supporting her, protecting the baby, but she did not move or speak. To call so obviously for his aid in front of his mother would betray weakness, and that of all things she refused to show.
'I am ready to depart,' said his mother without the slightest hint of discomfort. 'Yet if you will, might an attendant guide me to a private corner for I have some necessary business I must urgently complete before the walk back up to the house. If you will be so kind, Son.'
Besides Mai, there were only two other females in the chamber, Priya with her disapproving frown and Sheyshi in the corner.
'You,' said Anji's mother, pointing at Sheyshi.
Priya said, 'Mistress, I will go-'
'I am not useless!' cried Sheyshi indignantly. 'This way, verea.'
'To a slave such as you,' snapped Anji's mother, 'I am addressed as "Most High."'
'Sheyshi is not a slave,' said Mai.
But Sheyshi picked up a lamp and scuttled outside. Once both women were outside on the porch, Sheyshi shut the doors behind them.
Mai heard her speak in her clumsy way, 'Here is the waste bucket, Most High.'
'Not here, you stupid girl! A place with some privacy!'
Off they clattered into the depths of the inner courtyard.
'Out,' said Anji to his mother's slaves, and they retreated so quickly Mai would have laughed, if she could have laughed. Chief Tuvi came in, looking as disheveled as if he'd been sleeping. Anji marked Priya and O'eki. 'Tomorrow I depart by eagle for Olossi. The ships with the oil of naya and the new cohort of Qin soldiers will follow. As for you, plum blossom, my heart, my own, you will go to Merciful Valley. It is the only place I can know you will be safe from the dagger, or from poison. These are the preferred
methods of the women's palace in Sirniaka. It's like a sport for these women. They have nothing else to do.'