Finally, he pulled back. As if daring her to stop him, he touched her through her thin smallclothes. “The lords from the other islands are due to arrive before midday for the war council, and a feast is already scheduled. The perfect opportunity to prove yourself.”
“But the kiss—”
“It helped.” His grin was wolfish. “But you still have a long way to go.”
“Prove myself how?”
He tipped her chin up. “By becoming my wife.”
She’d played right into his hands. “No.” The word slipped out before she could stop it.
“Think of all the good you could do as empress.”
She searched his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
His expression closed off and he stepped back. “Because it’s the best thing for my country. And believe it or not, it’s the best thing for you.”
Lilette clenched her hands into fists at her sides. Still, if she lived in the palace, all she’d have to do was slip into the gardens to free the witches. “Is no even an option?”
“Of course,” Chen said. “I’m not a monster.”
She took a fortifying breath. “Very well.”
“What?”
She shifted her weight off her aching leg. “I said yes.”
He nodded to himself, a smile gracing his perfect lips. “You’ll see, Lilette. This is the best thing for everyone. And I will be good to you. I swear it.” He motioned for her to follow him. “The eunuchs must be awakened. They’ll have to work all night.”
“Wang,” he called as they approached the house.
The chief eunuch opened the door and gave a bow.
“For failing to keep an eye on the princess, her eunuch shall have five lashes,” Chen declared. “You will have seven. Lose her again and it will be both your heads.”
“Yes, Heir,” the chief eunuch said.
“Now that’s taken care of, we have a wedding to plan. Wake all the eunuchs.” Chen cradled Lilette’s cheek and kissed her again. He pulled back, his breath on her lips. “Until then, my sweet wife.”
It took everything she had not to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. She gave him what she hoped would pass for a shy smile.
Chen rubbed his thumbs along her collarbones before motioning the chief eunuch to walk with him. “She’s far too thin. Is she eating enough?”
Wang bowed. “I will personally see to her diet, Heir.” Over his shoulder, he shot Lilette a look of such hatred that she winced. Her personal eunuch trailed after them, his steps quick.
Lilette entered the house, then sidestepped Ko’s eunuch and pushed into Ko’s room. She slid the screen closed, scrubbed her lips with her sleeve, and spit onto the floor. Breathing hard, she ground out, “Did you tell them I had gone?”
Ko shook her head. “The heir came to visit you.” Her mouth tightened. “He would have bedded you.”
Lilette pressed her hand against her mouth, her heart racing. If she didn’t escape by tomorrow night . . . but she would be in the palace then. She’d only need to slip into the garden. Faking submission these past few days would surely pay off. It had to.
“Why did you come back?” Ko asked quietly.
Lilette winced. “I was caught.”
Ko’s eyebrows flew up.
“Han intercepted the guards. He let me go.”
“It’s a good thing, or all three of us would be dead.”
Lilette let that soak in, realizing how close they’d all come to being caught. She lifted her smallclothes, revealing purple-black bruises that the shadows and her thin film of clothing had hidden. “Han said you had a salve?”
Ko rooted around in a chest while Lilette examined her shin. To her surprise, it hadn’t bruised, but she could feel a wide knot under her fingers.
Ko smeared the salve onto Lilette’s abdomen before wrapping it with an old sash. She handed her a jar of paste. “Take a fingerful of this. It will help with the pain.”
Lilette took the jar, but hesitated to consume any.
“I think,” Ko said after a moment, “it is very dangerous to be your friend.”
A cavern seemed to open up inside Lilette. Over the course of her life, she’d lost everyone she’d ever grown close to. Why would Ko be any different?
“Lang and I have risked our lives for you. My son has risked his life—too many times. Promise me you’ll keep him out of this.”
The cavern yawned and stretched. A blush crept up Lilette’s cheeks. Did Ko know something had happened between Han and her? Though it sent a stab of pain through Lilette’s belly, she forced herself to say the words. “I swear.”
She put a fingerful of the paste in her mouth and pulled a face as the bitterness fanned across her tongue.