Chapter 19: Hand in Hand

Ruoxi stood in the corridor outside the great hall of the court, in the slate-blue robe, with nothing at her waist.

She had left the spoon on the table in her mother's back room.

It did not belong to this day.

The doors ahead of her were open.

She could see rows of ministers in black caps and a gold dais.

The Marquis stood near the front with a paper in his hands.

Beyond him, in a chair on the right, sat a lean man in a dark red robe with a plain face and tired eyes.

The Prince of Beihai.

Her stomach turned over.

"You do not have to come in," Mingzhu said quietly beside her.

She wore the plum-red and cream, with the gold phoenix comb in her hair and no paint on her face but a little rouge.

Her hands were cold.

"I'm coming in."

"They will look at you."

"They've looked at me for six years. I just never noticed because I was staring at your soup."

Mingzhu laughed under her breath.

Then she turned her palm up between them, and Ruoxi took it.

They walked in hand in hand.

The sound in the hall died.

Ministers shifted.

A tall one in the third row stared at their joined hands as if they were something rude written on a wall.

The Empress Dowager sat on the dais, small and upright, with her cup of hot water.

"Princess Mingzhu," she said.

"Du Ruoxi. Come forward."

They stopped at the foot of the steps.

"The Marquis Shao has brought a petition from the Prime Minister," said the Empress Dowager.

"He says my daughter's post of taster was a fraud on the Hall. I will hear her."

The Marquis bowed to the princess, to the Prince, and to the court.

He read out the petition in his easy voice.

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