Temptation of the Butterfly, page 16
Chapter Twenty-Six
Fen saw the outline of Jin’s house approaching in the distance. It was early morning yet, but she saw the figures of her brothers and Francesca outlined in the sky. Aaron let go of her, putting distance between them. He stood rigid, his face blank and hard. She hated him for being right, for making her turn back. She hadn’t been thinking, but as the day cleared and her thoughts centered with her logic, she knew this was the course of action they must take.
But if he said the word, she’d turn the land craft around in a second and race away with him to meet their impoverished fate. She looked at him, expectant, hoping. The words never came.
“Fen,” Haun yelled. He sounded angry. Swallowing, she turned to look at him as the ship approached where he stood. He was angry.
“I just—” Fen began.
“Save the excuses,” Haun growled. The ship neared, and he lifted his hand to the eye, bringing down the stairs. Fen moved past Aaron to step down. Haun reached up and grabbed her hand, tugging her toward him. She tripped.
“Easy,” Aaron said as he grabbed her waist from behind, holding her up. For a moment, she teetered between the land craft and the ground.
“What?” Haun’s voice was hard. She knew he was worried, which translated into anger.
“Haun,” Jin said, his voice softer. “She’s safe. She’s all right. You can let go.”
“She’s a fool,” Haun answered. He let go of her, prompting Aaron to do the same. Fen quickly stepped down, moving to block Aaron from Haun’s view.
“Haun, I’m sorry. I’m here now.” Fen lifted her hand, but his glare stopped her.
“I was charged with your safety, Fen. What would have happened if you didn’t come back?”
“I did,” she answered. She was mildly surprised that he knew she’d planned on running away, but she shouldn’t have been.
“And you,” Haun said, lifting his hand. “I warned you to mind yourself.”
Fen glanced at Aaron. He tried to give her a reassuring half smile but it didn’t hold.
“It was me,” Fen said. “I needed to clear my head. I did that, and now I’m ready to go home.”
“But you can’t,” Jin protested. “You just got here, and what about the threat?”
“Maybe we could take a trip to the palace with you,” Francesca offered, taking her husband’s arm.
Fen nodded in silent thanks.
“You could’ve ruined everything,” Haun said.
Unable to take his accusing tone, not now when her heart was broken and she was forced to make the hardest decision of her life—leaving Aaron—she screamed.
Haun and Jin looked shocked. Francesca grinned, nodding in approval. Aaron didn’t move.
“I am tired of you all telling me what to do,” she yelled. Pointing at Aaron, she said, “I know my duty, and I am doing it.” She moved her finger, directing her attention at Haun. “And I’ll marry Li or Shing or whoever our royal dictator of a mother decides to put next to me, and I’ll be a puppet wife.” She moved her finger toward Jin. “I know my life is in danger. I more than anyone know it. Shi, someone wants me dead. Shi, it’s dangerous. Shi, I know I was told to get away from the palace. Well, I’m away, and now I’m going back. No one said how long I had to stay away.” Then, turning to Francesca, she hesitated, stuttering, “Ah, I—I am not really mad at you so…there!”
“What are you saying, Fen?” Haun asked.
“She’s saying,” Francesca interrupted, “that she’s fed up, and you men really suck ass right now. Quit treating her like she’s a baby, when it’s clear she’s doing what she has to like an adult. Hell, I practically told her to run away. So what if she tried it; she came back, didn’t she? Actually, right now, I’m a little pissed at you myself. Am I the only one who thinks forcing someone to marry is wrong?” She paused to look at Jin. “Not counting us, my love.” Jin nodded, a small smile on his face as he watched his wife.
Fen crossed over to Francesca, grateful to have someone understanding on her side. She stood beside the woman, nodding her head in agreement with her sister-by-marriage’s words, as she silently thought, Go, sister, go.
“Fen and I are going back to the palace just as soon as I pack,” Francesca announced. She turned to Fen. “You have clothes I can borrow? I don’t have suitable princess attire. I keep avoiding the seamstresses your mother sends.”
They weren’t the same size, but Fen nodded that she did.
“Great.” Francesca then turned to the men. “As I said, Fen and I are going back right now. You can either get on board, or stay here, but one thing is for sure—Aaron, you had better get your ass on that land craft before I tie you up and drag you back to the palace as my prisoner.”
“Um, she can do it,” Jin warned.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Francesca said to him.
“Ah, yeah, what she said,” Fen told Haun and Jin.
Haun lifted up his hands. “Well, do you at least have a plan?”
“Francesca already told you,” Fen said. “We’re going back to the palace.”
“I meant beyond that?” he asked, his tone not so angry as before. He gave her a quick hug before stepping away from the rampaging Francesca.
“I don’t know,” Francesca said, giving Fen a mischievous look. “Lunch maybe?”
“Perfect,” Fen said, leading the way back up the steps. Francesca was right behind her.
“I meant about the threat on Fen’s life,” Haun stepped up.
“Honey,” Francesca told her brother-by-marriage. “Life and death situations are my department of expertise. I’ll be by her side until the scoundrel is caught, then I’ll neuter him through his nose for daring to threaten my sister.”
The men winced, each protectively adjusting their bodies.
“I’ve been itching for a little action,” Francesca said, almost sounding excited. Fen guessed that living the married life was a lot tamer than the existence of the intergalactic thief she’d once been. To Fen, Francesca whispered, “Don’t worry about a thing. If you love him so much that you were willing to give up your crown for him—and I know how you all prize family and honor on this planet—then I’ll help you find a way to be with him. If there isn’t already a way around the law, then we’ll just have to change a few things so there is.”
“How do you know I was the one who was willing to leave? How do you know I didn’t make him come back?” Fen asked, awed by Francesca’s deep, almost psychic assessment of the situation.
“I can read people. He wouldn’t dare kidnap you, because you have everything to lose. Just look at his eyes when he’s staring at you. He would roll over and die if you told him to do it. I just can’t believe he convinced you to come back. I rather thought you’d sneak off, get married and then come back. But this plan works too.” Francesca shrugged, crossing over to the controls. She hit the preset coordinates for the palace.
“Thank you,” Fen said, placing her hand on her shoulder.
“Fen, you were a true friend to me despite everything I was when we met. You showed me that there was more to marrying Jin than getting a husband. You showed me the love of a sister. Protecting you is the least I can do to repay that kindness.”
“I did that?” Fen was surprised, not remembering herself doing anything special. She’d tried to get along with the woman but had always assumed her measures went unappreciated.
Francesca winked at her but didn’t change her somber expression. Louder, she announced, “We’re going. You’d better be on board if you’re coming along.”
“Qin ai de, baobei, ai ren,” Jin said to his wife, speaking the long list of endearments as if to placate her before daring to question her order that they leave.
“Don’t darling, baby, sweetheart me,” Francesca told him. “I think it’s time we paid your parents a visit. I also think it’s time they stopped meddling in their children’s lives, especially if they want to see their grandchild after it’s born.”
“What?” Fen gasped. “Francesca?”
“Jin?” Haun asked.
“She just told me,” Jin said, nodding.
“A baby?” Fen asked, grinning in excitement. “But you said—”
“I said not that anyone knew,” Francesca put forth.
“Oh, my, a baby? Really?” Fen gave a small clap of excitement. She really needed some good news.
“Yes. And since everyone knows that pregnant women have to get their way or risk the baby coming out with two heads…” Francesca smiled as her voice tapered off.
Fen stared at her in amazement. Then, seeing Aaron standing quietly behind her brothers, atop the platform where they’d made love the night before, she tried to smile at him in hope. He nodded once, returning the look. Fen couldn’t blame him for not speaking, and knew he’d feel it wasn’t his place since he was the only non-member of the family.
“Uh, Jin,” Haun said, uncertain. “Foreign women don’t really have babies with heads like that, do they?”
“No.” Jin chuckled. “You were teasing, right, ai ren?”
Francesca just smiled.
Fen shook her head. Her poor brothers really didn’t have a clue when it came to those types of things. Aside from a few servants, they’d probably never even seen a pregnant woman, let alone knew what was natural during such a time.
“Ah, ai ren?” Jin asked. “Right?”
Francesca laughed.
“Right, ai ren?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Fen’s stomach had tightened into hard knots the second the walls of Honorable City came into view and the feeling didn’t ease up in the hours since. Her parents were upset by her return, even more so to see Aaron was with her. Jin stole Aaron away, saving him from the scrutiny of the emperor and empress. Haun left to speak to their father, and Francesca somehow managed to turn the conversation in so many directions until the empress all but made them go to Fen’s room to rest. Since that was originally what Francesca wanted, they were hardly disappointed.
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough to go through with this,” Fen said, taking a deep breath as she thought about the plan they’d come up with on the ride home. She smoothed the black silk of her gown. Delicately embroidered red blossoms on a stem wound around the black silk. She’d bathed in the decontaminator, and then had taken time to pull up her hair with a black comb. “I’m not like you.”
“Yes, you are,” Francesca said. As her figure was more athletic in build, Fen’s dresses didn’t fit her so well, so she’d gone to Jin’s room to steal a pair of his breeches and combined it with one of Fen’s plain nightshirts. After tying a belt around her waist, it didn’t look half bad. “You just haven’t had the occasion to tap into your inner strength. It took a lot of guts to try and run away from everything you’d been taught.”
“I don’t see it as guts. I see it as being a coward and not facing what I must,” Fen said.
“Are you serious? With the way honor and duty have been drummed into your head… Now, don’t take this the wrong way, I agree that those are good qualities to have, but to give up everything you hold dear, to give up the chance at love because you feel you are honor bound to marry a man who was born under the right circumstances? When I think that Jin and I…” Francesca paused, touching her stomach. “When I think that we might not have all we do now because I’m not Lintianese…”
Fen saw a tear enter Francesca’s eye, but the woman quickly blinked it away.
“Your parents love you,” Francesca said. “Your mother is a piece of work, but she’s still your mother. If she can deal with Mei and Jarek and Jin and me, then she’ll be fine with what you have planned. Besides, if she disowns you, you can always come live with me. I need a good servant.”
Fen laughed, despite her nervousness. “Don’t you think I should talk to Aaron first?”
“Ah, yeah, about that. You can’t. Your mother has him under guard. Jin told me when I went to get the pants.” Francesca patted her arm. “But don’t worry, he’s unharmed. Just…under arrest.”
“Just?” Fen shook her head in disbelief at the easy way Francesca said it, as if it was no big deal to be arrested by the emperor.
“Hey, I was in your prisons,” Francesca said. “They’re not bad at all. He’ll be fed, given a place to sleep. As far as prison holds go, I have to say it’s the best one I’ve been in. By stars, it’s better than some of the rooms I’ve paid good space credits to stay in. If word got out, people would come here just to get arrested.”
“I think it’s time,” Fen said. “They’re expecting us in the dining hall. All the suitors will be there.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be by your side the whole time,” Francesca said. “No one is going to hurt you.”
“Strangely, at the moment, I’m less concerned about being attacked than facing the empress.”
“Nothing strange about it.” Francesca hooked her arm through Fen’s and began walking toward the door. “I’d much rather get in a fight than face your mother in defiance.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I’ve seated Shing at your side,” the empress said, joining Fen and Francesca as they came through the door. “He is ready to accept your hand in marriage. It has all been arranged, there is nothing to discuss with him.”
“You asked him for me?” Fen gasped. Her gaze flew to the table. Her suitors were there, including some of the new ones. Deng Li was gone, but that wasn’t too surprising, as he didn’t have any need to stay at the palace and could get back to his life. Seeing Shing talking with Tan Ho, she shivered. He was handsome, refined and not the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life next to.
“Shi,” the empress said.
“That’s romantic,” Francesca drawled wryly.
The empress shot her a hard look but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the comment.
“The astrologers are on their way. I’ve spoken to Madame Eng, and she assures me that there should not be any reason to call the nuptials off. I had her do the readings in private. As soon as you announce, they’ll give their verdict agreeing to the match.” The empress smiled for any eyes that might be looking, but her gaze was hard. “I expect this to go smoothly.”
The empress walked away, not giving her time to answer.
“Tianna,” Fen whispered to Francesca when they could again speak freely. “She’s already engaged me. I can’t get out of it now. They’ve given my word on the matter.”
“Only you can give your word,” Francesca argued.
“There is obviously more you need to learn about our culture,” Fen whispered. Her heart pounded in her chest. She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t strong enough to stand up to society and her parents. What if they disowned her? What if they had no choice but to? What if Shing protested and demanded compensation for refusing their engagement? She had to go through with it. Why did she even think she could get out of it?
“Princess Fen.”
Fen turned to see Ye Yuan. His gaze was downcast and dark circles marred under his eyes. The man was usually brooding, but there was something else to his forlorn expression.
“Please, may I speak?” Yuan asked, giving the barest glance at Francesca.
Fen motioned that it was all right and Francesca made her way toward the dining table where people were being seated. When they were relatively alone, Fen turned expectantly to Yuan, ready to hear his well wishes on her marriage to his brother, and perhaps a brief welcome into their family. She bit her lips, feeling nauseous.
“You, ah…” Yuan glanced around the hall before again giving her his full attention. “Princess, you can’t marry my brother.”
That was the last thing she’d suspected. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t marry Shing. You’re not meant for him. Please, you can’t marry him. If you must, marry me instead, but not Shing. He’ll… I’ll…”
Fen frowned. Something in the man’s eyes scared her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in warning.
“Ah, my beautiful princess,” Shing’s voice interrupted. He came next to his brother, smiling brightly as he offered Fen his arm. “May I escort you to the table?”
“But—” Yuan began.
“Yuan, you don’t look well,” Shing said. “Maybe you should go lie down.”
“But—” the troubled man said again.
“Come.” Shing took Fen’s hand and put it on his arm before leading her away.
“Is he…?” Fen glanced back.
“Who, Yuan? Oh, sure, he’ll be fine,” Shing assured her. “He is a little different. My mother had him tutored partially by a religious sect when he was younger and we think it affected his mind some. He’s harmless though. Yuan spends most of his time praying to the ancestors, and what harm can there be in that?”
A cold chill washed over Fen at Shing’s words. The fire had been something supernatural. Could it be that Yuan was behind the attacks? The man was brooding and troubled, with a wild look about him. And he’d been almost desperate when he said she should choose to marry him, not Shing.
It all added up—raised by a sect, praying to ancestors excessively, in the shadow of a charming and well liked older brother who was set to inherit land and title, and was now engaged to a princess. But why attack her? Because he didn’t want his brother to have her? Her brothers did say that she’d been noticeably spending more time with Shing than the others. Did Yuan notice the same thing as well?
Fen looked back to see Yuan was gone from the hall. Stress kept her entire body on a tight leash, making it hard to breathe. They reached the table and Fen tried to extract her arm from Shing. He held it a bit tighter, leaning into her.
“I am pleased with this,” he said, his eyes intense.
Fen couldn’t answer. Her mind raced with thoughts of Yuan. If he was the one, they could stop him, get him help, and she’d be safe. A sense of relief tried to unfurl in her at the idea. How could she not have seen it? But, then, with so many suitors vying for her attention all the time, it was understandable how she hadn’t. Her emotions were all over the place and she’d been so focused on Aaron that she hadn’t taken time to use her gifts on the suitors.
