Chapter 9: The Hall

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was larger than Shuyao remembered.

She had not been in it since the day she was crowned.

Now she stood in the third row of petitioners behind her grandmother.

Zhengyu stood on her left, and Qin Hanzhou a pace behind, because the Emperor had asked for him by name.

The throne sat on a high stair of white stone.

The Emperor was sixty-one and thin, with a long white beard, and a cough that he kept behind one hand.

Wei stood at the foot of the stair.

He did not look at her.

"The Marquis of the Western Garrison," the herald read, "has won a great victory at the Black Ravine."

Murmurs ran through the hall.

Shuyao listened to the account.

It was a good summary. It named the salt-flat road, and the strike party sent into the ravine behind the ambushers.

It named the forty enemy riders killed on the east ridge, and the grain saved.

It did not name the person who had sent the Marquis around the ravine.

"For the Marquis's wisdom in foreseeing the ambush," the herald continued, "His Majesty commends the General of the Western Command."

Shuyao looked up.

"General," said the Emperor, in a dry, kind voice. "Come forward."

A big man in his fifties walked up the aisle, his chest out.

He was the Noble Consort's cousin.

"It was a clear plan, Majesty. The Marquis, though loyal, is not clever with roads."

"I took the liberty of advising him on the salt flats."

Her grandmother's hand tightened on her cane.

"You advised him?" Zhengyu said under his breath. "He was in the capital!"

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