Han led her around a corner and paused to look back. “Any spies would have a hard time fitting in here.”
“Spies?” She didn’t think her situation could get any worse. Apparently she was wrong.
They finally left the derelict buildings behind. Gradually, they began to pass tightly clustered houses, most with simple beaten-dirt walls and thatched roofs.
Eventually those homes gave way to small, wooden houses with turned-up corners and battered-silk screen windows. The streets here were paved in yellow bricks so old the corners had been worn off, the centers of the bricks bulging a little under her slippered feet.
The numbers of people steadily grew. Lilette and Han passed many carts—some pulled by a horse or ox, some by people. Finally, they turned up the market street. Merchants were thick, their booths filled with everything from food to jewelry beneath glass cases.
Most of the hawkers wore knee-length tunics with loose trousers. Their shorter hair was held back with a simple cord. Their wives or daughters wore slightly longer tunics and loose trousers as they worked the booths, wrapping the items and taking care of the customers.
Girls ran around with their hair unbound, while all the adult women had theirs tied back in simple braids or buns. As Lilette and Han moved through the street, the merchants and people grew thicker, the booths filled with more elaborate goods. Hawkers called to her, their voices blending together and breaking apart like a flock of songbirds in flight.
Lilette brushed her forefinger on the sharp edge of her chipped comb. If there was ever a perfect time to escape, it would be now, in the chaos and press of people. Without her dragon robes, she appeared to be one of the wealthier women, and hopefully that meant no one would question her.
They passed a woman reclining in a rickshaw, her hair in an elaborate style that could only be accomplished by the skilled hands of servants.
People jostled and bumped them from every side. Han still held Lilette’s arm, so she threw herself forward as if she’d tripped. Han held on, but he was slightly off balance. Cocking her knee, she kicked back at him. He twisted to avoid the blow.
With a swift jerk of her arm, she was free. She scrambled under the rickshaw and ran, dodging between people and carts. She looked back, a lock of hair sweeping across her face.
Han was a mere few steps behind her. His hand shot out. She twisted and dove beneath a cart, then came out the other side. Crouched below the masses of people, Lilette slipped under a table covered in blankets.
The merchant backed away from her, her mouth open to protest. Lilette held out her jade brooch, her thumb running regretfully across the lotus carving. The woman’s mouth snapped shut and her fingers snatched up the brooch, which immediately disappeared within the folds of her robe. She looked up, scanning the crowd. “He isn’t far. Be silent.” The woman resumed calling out to the crowds.
Lilette’s heart pounded in her chest. She held perfectly still as sweat rolled down her temples.
After a moment, the woman motioned toward the alley behind them. “Go.”
Pulling her hood low over her face, Lilette stepped into the shadows between two buildings built so close together their roofs overlapped. She forced herself not to look back, not to run. She reached the street on the other side and peered out.
She didn’t know where she was or where to go. All she knew was she had to put as much distance between herself and Han as possible. She kept walking, her head down to hide her obviously foreign features, one hand holding the hood low.
She crossed this street and came out another one, but she hadn’t taken three steps before the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. One hand out for balance, she froze at the sight of a creature as tall and wide as a house coming toward her. She gaped at the hopelessly wrinkled animal covered in black silk and gold tassels. Its nose reached to the ground, and its ears fanned out beside its head. Its sheer size caused sweat to break out across Lilette’s body.
A boy sat at the animal’s neck. Behind him, a ridiculously elaborate palanquin-like pavilion rested on its back. Inside the palanquin was a veiled woman. And surrounding both woman and creature were elite, two soldiers deep.
Remembering herself with a start, Lilette darted into the nearest alley. Just as she crossed the mouth, someone grabbed her. Han. He shoved her behind a tall cart, then pressed his body flush against hers. It was unthinkable. A small cry of protest rose from her throat, but he only covered her mouth with his hand.
“Did she see you?”
Lilette took a breath that was full of the smell of leather and steel and murmured unintelligibly beneath his fingers. He let up enough for her to speak.
“Who? What?”