Chapter 17: Closed Door

The bar stayed down for an hour.

Shuyi sat on the floor with her back against the table leg, where she had sat to watch Lanxin write the memorial.

She did not pound on the door.

She had learned that Lanxin locked doors when she was most afraid.

When the bar lifted, it was dusk, and Lanxin stood in the doorway in full armour.

The plates were dark and plain, with a red cord at the shoulder.

She looked like a statue, and her face was shut.

"The examiner has written his finding," she said.

"It will be read on the Drum Tower day."

"I have read it."

"What does it say?"

"That the hand in the Frostgate Letters is the hand of General Ye Lanxin."

Shuyi got to her feet.

"Then we tell the men tonight," she said.

"No."

"Lanxin."

"I am dismissing you," said Lanxin.

The words fell flat as paving stones.

Shuyi stared at her.

"Your thirty days are not done, but your work is."

"The copies are made, the examiner has seen them, and I have no more use for a copyist."

"The full fee is in the drawer, and it is yours."

"Go back to your stall."

"You can't mean that."

"I mean every word."

Lanxin's voice was cold and level, and not one muscle in her face moved.

"You are a hired woman," she said.

"I took you into my bed because I was lonely, and you were close."

"That is all it was."

"You are not my wife, or a witness, or an officer."

"You are a girl with a brush, and this is a matter of state."

"You are in the way."

Shuyi felt the words land one at a time.

She had been struck before, and this was worse.

She looked at the hands, the calloused right hand clenched round the hilt, so hard that the knuckles were white.

"Say it again," she said.

"I have said it."

"Say it to my face, and look at me."

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