I pressed my forehead against my hands. Later. I could only hope there was a later. Right now, all I wanted was a warm bed. My head ached, and the nap I’d had in Danzu’s wagon wasn’t nearly enough. Yún leaned close and poured me a second mug of tea. “Courage,” she said. “We are almost done with the adventure.”
“Oh, yeah, but what kind of end?”
She smiled and patted me on the arm. Meanwhile, Lian was explaining to Gan exactly what she hoped to accomplish that evening. She wanted to reach her father’s bedchamber without any guards sending word to the Guild Council or any member of court. Just in case.
“Is it possible?” she asked.
Gan frowned and kneaded his hands together, as though testing the lumps and flaws in the bundle of clay that was her request. “It’s not a simple matter,” he said after a couple moments.
“You mean it’s not simple if we fail,” Jing-mei said.
Gan opened and shut his mouth. “I mean it’s not simple.”
Lian flicked her hand in a sharp gesture. “No arguments, please. Gan, tell me at once if you cannot manage such a task. I will not blame you,” she added quickly. “I understand that your reputation and career would suffer—”
“It’s not that,” Gan said sharply. “It’s . . . I must think how we can do it. You see, in the past month or two, the commanders have changed our routines. Anyone wishing to enter the palace must present three kinds of credentials, all of them approved by the Minister of Inner Harmony. My commanders say it’s because everyone’s afraid for the king’s safety. I think it’s because they don’t want any witnesses to what’s going on.”
“And what is going on?”
Lian’s voice dropped to a frigid whisper. Gan shivered (we all did) and wiped his forehead. “Your father is ill. He cannot speak. He does not eat anything but a few spoonfuls of soup. Most of the court physicians have been ordered away—all except the two most senior. Oh, and one physician who came with the Lang-zhou City delegation for the trade conference.”
Lian gave a soft exclamation. “Go on.”
“There isn’t much more to say. Three physicians in attendance, all day long. Rumor says . . .” He faltered. “Rumor says your father should have died a month or more ago. They say, either the gods protect him from death, or he’s made an unholy pact with demons.”
“You didn’t tell me that part,” Jing-mei murmured.
“We each have our secrets,” Gan murmured back.
Lian frowned in concentration. “You can’t help us into the palace, I think. Not without someone getting very suspicious, very quickly. What about you, Jing-mei? You say you deliver goods to members of my court. Do you have these new credentials?”
A moment’s hesitation. “No, Your Highness. We—Danzu and I have an arrangement with certain officers.”
“You bribe them?”
Gan scowled. Yún went tense beside me. Both of them had known about the business, and maybe about tapping into the magic flux, but not the bribes. Jing-mei shifted uncomfortably, her gaze flitting all around the kitchen, anywhere but her friends’ faces. Lian waited patiently, her own expression unreadable.
Finally, Jing-mei released an unhappy breath. “Yes. But only to overlook our deliveries. Nothing else. We—”
Lian cut her off with a gesture. “Never mind. Tell me how you enter the palace.”
They entered the palace by the stable entrance, Jing-mei explained. Usually between ten o’clock and midnight. Certain junior officers (“bribe takers,” Gan muttered unhappily) made certain they stood on duty at the gates. They fiddled with the vid-cameras and sent their underlings on patrol well away from the entrances.
Halfway through her explanation, Danzu appeared. His face turned gray. “Jing-mei—”
“Shut up,” Jing-mei told him. Then to Lian, “Once we’re inside, we transfer the goods into the freight lifts.”
“To which wing of the palace?”
“To a waiting room next to the Royal Audience Chambers for Intimate Friends and Enemies.”
Lian’s eyebrows lifted in respect. “Very audacious. And clever. You won’t find many chance visitors to that hall at night. Your customers visit you there?”
Jing-mei nodded. “It is all arranged, Your Highness.”
“Do the junior captains know that?”
“I believe not. I have not told them, but there are always rumors.”