Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin Page A

her mouth, his touch as light as a leaf on water.
    ‘No wonder Li Tao is willing to move mountains to get you back.’
    The sound of the name made her flinch. Li Tao knew nothing about her, cared nothing for her. Their marriage had been arranged to reinforce an alliance. The warlord would never listen to her as Ryam did. No one had ever paid such careful attention to her.
    Closing her eyes, she broke away. Whatever was forming between them, it could not endure. Her father had promised her to the traitor Li Tao. If she wasn’t considered ruined for marriage, her father would promise her to someone else.
    Her father was Emperor. Their lives were not their own. What one wanted and what one needed to do were seldom the same. That was duty. That was sacrifice.
    When she opened her eyes, Ryam had shifted further from her. His elbow rested against the edge of the boat and his hand dangled near the water. He looked to the shore, watchful of any movement.
    ‘We won’t be able to stay on the river long,’ he said after another stretch. ‘They’ll follow it and find us.’
    A thought came to her. ‘The weapons shipment you were guarding—where was it destined?’
    Ryam frowned. ‘Chengdu. Why?’
    ‘The shipment could have been going to Li Tao,’ she said, rising excitedly.
    ‘Get down. You’re going to fall over.’
    The connection was so clear. A clandestine weapons shipment amidst rumours that Li Tao was building an army in secret. It was exactly as Wu had warned her. She had been right to escape when she did.
    ‘The Emperor has taken control of the forges and armouries in order to control the jiedushi ,’ she explained. ‘If Li Tao needed weapons, he would need to smuggle them from outside the empire.’
    ‘All the way from Parthia through Yumen Guan?’
    ‘He needed to keep it secret,’ she insisted. ‘And he may have had help from someone at the fortress.’
    ‘It’s possible.’ He frowned, considering it. ‘Between us and the tribesmen, we try to stay away from the affairs of the empire.’
    ‘But Princess Miya is there. They still speak of her in Changan. When she was in the palace, she could get anyone to do her bidding.’
    ‘How do you know so much about her anyway?’
    ‘Everyone knows of her.’ She fell silent then, praying she hadn’t revealed too much.
    ‘You’re wrong about the princess,’ he said. ‘We risked our lives to rescue her from the palace. It was her choice to abdicate the throne. She doesn’t want to be involved with the empire. Not with something like this.’
    In the previous reign, the Emperor had been considered godlike, the Son of Heaven. The people seemed content to accept his rule. The borders were protected by powerful warlords and the merchants grew fat and decadent.
    Her father’s succession had been brought about through war and rebellion. His detractors claimed that a barbarian had taken the throne, a man of common birth and mixed blood. Heaven had turned its back on the Middle Kingdom in disgust, and responded with famine and disorder.
    Perhaps it was true that Emperors had to be born. Father had never dreamed of ruling. He had only accepted the duty out of honour. Secretly, Ailey wished there was a way that all of this could be undone and their family could return to what they once were. Fourth Brother wouldn’t be dead. Father and Mother wouldn’t be desperate to negotiate alliances with powerful warlords.
    Ryam stood to steer them around an outcropping of rock. His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows and the muscles in his arms pulled taut against the drag of the water. Once again, he had saved her life.
    She had to remember that he was still a stranger, inextricably linked to the power struggles that were tearing apart the empire she loved. She could never completely trust him. It seemed she couldn’t trust anyone, any more.
    He had warned her that not everyone lived by the same code of honour she did. She knew it too well. When it came to power and