The Candle Burns Red - Chapter 11

The crown prince and I left the throne hall one after the other. My legs felt unsteady, and I almost tripped over the threshold. Someone caught my arm. Crown Prince Yuwen Sheng looked worried.

“Are you all right?”

I realized he meant the wound on my head. I quietly pulled my arm free. “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. It’s a small injury.”

“We grew up together. Why are you so distant now? A-Luan, I’ve always cared for you.”

I was an orphan. When I was eleven, Yuwen Sheng had picked me up and made me his personal maid. After learning I knew a little martial arts, he sent me into the Embroidered Guard Pavilion. His ambition was no less than his father’s.

He caught my hand. His lips smiled, but his eyes were cold. “You kept defending Pei Xiuwen. Do you care for him?”

“I merely don’t want Your Majesty and Your Highness to lose an obedient dog.”

“You had better mean that.”

A clear male voice rose from below the steps, edged with urgency. “Your Highness, release my wife.”

I looked down. Pei Xiuwen stood there, cool-faced and handsome, approaching me without fear. Yuwen Sheng let my hand go with an amused smile.

“The Divine Maiden nearly fell. I only helped her. Divine Maiden, do watch the path before you. One wrong step could lead you astray.”

Pei Xiuwen stepped in front of me and bowed. “I’ll see that she behaves. Your Highness needn’t trouble yourself.”

He sounded distinctly displeased with Yuwen Sheng. Had something happened between them?

On our way home, Pei Xiuwen remained silent, his face dark. “Why did you come to the palace?” I asked for something to say.

“To find you.”

“There was no need. His Majesty wasn’t going to eat me…”

He turned and looked at me intently. “I don’t know how you came to know the crown prince, but he hides much beneath the surface. Don’t spend time with him.”

I knew that without being told. But why was Pei Xiuwen so hostile to him? Then it struck me. “My lord, are you jealous?”

“Be quiet.”

We had barely reached home when an imperial edict arrived. The emperor ordered Pei Xiuwen to lead a company of guards in search of the Dragon Vein treasure. The eunuch reading it added, “The Divine Maiden will accompany Lord Pei.”

Pei Xiuwen frowned. “She is only a frail woman. The journey will be dangerous. Why send her?”

A frail woman? I hid a smile.

“The Divine Maiden studies the mystic arts and knows geomancy. She will be of use.”

I did not know what troubled Pei Xiuwen, but from the moment he received the edict, he seemed weighed down. The emperor demanded that we leave in three days.

Before our departure I summoned Baize privately and put all the Pavilion’s affairs in the capital in his charge. “You aren’t taking me?” he asked, surprised. On my previous missions he had always protected me from the shadows, ready to appear at the first hint of danger.

“It’s only a treasure hunt. What could happen? Stay here.”

His voice stiffened. “Pavilion Master, have you truly fallen for Pei Xiuwen?”

“How dare you. Since when have my affairs been yours to question?”

He dropped to his knees. “This subordinate would not dare.”

He was becoming less and less like the man I knew. I had raised him from the Pavilion’s lowest rank of shadow guard, and for years he had served me well. Working side by side, we had become close partners. Now I found him harder to understand with every passing day.