The Sins of Nightsong. V. J. Banis

the young lieutenant said.

      “No.” April climbed out of the wagon. “Come along, darling.” She lifted Adam down after asking him to hand her the reticule. To Mei Fei she asked, “You brought a horse for me?”

      Mei Fei motioned toward the stand of trees. The horse was brought forward.

      Eddie grabbed her arm. “You are not going back! For God’s sake, April, you’ve been waiting years for this chance.”

      “These men’s deaths would always be on my conscience, Eddie. And I could never permit Mei Fei’s sacrifice.” She forced a smile and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Don’t make trouble, Eddie. Go with the Marines to Shanghai. I will be all right. I should have known all along that I would never be allowed to leave China without the Empress’s permission. Take heart. I haven’t given up. I am only returning to the Forbidden City to obtain my cousin’s permission, and believe me, I will get it. Thank you for everything. Perhaps we will meet again in America.”

      “You’re sure you want to do this, April?”

      “I’m sure,” she said. “Go along. I’ll be fine.” She smiled. She wasn’t too sure about her last remark.

      Eddie helped April to mount the horse, then handed up little Adam. “I hate like the devil to see you go back, April.”

      “I hate like the devil to be going back, but it is just only another delay. Perhaps this is what I should have done years ago.”

      “Take care of yourself, love.”

      “You too.”

      The Chinese officer gave a command and the small army started back toward Peking with Mei Fei riding beside April and Adam. As they reached the bend in the road April turned back in time to see the Marines regroup and to see Eddie still standing in the middle of the road. When he saw her turn he waved until she was out of sight.

      April looked over at Mei Fei’s sad face and gave her a bright smile. “Your head is much too lovely to fall victim to the ax blade, dear sister. Do not be sad for my sake. There is much unfinished business between me and my cousin, the Empress. It is only right that it be settled before I leave.”

      “It is David’s child?” Mei Fei asked, looking at little Adam. “Foolish me, of course it is David’s. He looks exactly like him. The amah said she thought you were with child when you ran from the palace.” They rode in silence for a while. “Wu Lien will be pleased to see you, April. He is, of course, with the Empress.”

      Wu Lien, she thought as she said his name to herself. “I am not so certain I will be pleased to see him. He was responsible for David’s arrest and execution—all the while pretending to be his friend,” she said bitterly, as if speaking to herself.

      “He did it because he loves you, April.”

      “Loves me!” She tightened her hands on the reins. “I detest and despise him. Given any chance I will see that he gets repaid for what he did to Adam’s father.”

      “You must never let him know that, April.”

      “Oh, have no fears, little sister. I am an old hand at playing court politics. I know Wu Lien has the Empress’s ear. I will not give him any excuse to chop off my head and exhibit it on a pole under the Dowager’s balcony. In fact, once I reach the palace he would be well advised to make certain his head doesn’t get hoisted up on that pole.”

      “Wu Lien plans to make you his bride.”

      April laughed. “Never. I have had husbands enough...one dead in China, one very much alive in America, if he hasn’t divorced me for deserting him and our child.” She sighed. “And I would do it all again for David.” There was a stinging behind her eyes. She quickly stiffened herself, then laid her cheek on little Adam’s tousled head. “I would have done anything in the world for your father, little one.”

      She smiled as she realized the child had fallen fast asleep, heedless of any danger. As unaccustomed as she was to riding horseback, it was hard for her to understand how Adam could possibly fall asleep, even though the horse’s pace was very slow.

      Mei Fei began chattering on about palace gossip, talking about people April had long since forgotten existed.

      “And our father,” Mei Fei whispered, “is in serious trouble. It is better for us to be under the Empress’s protection than with him in Kalgan.”

      April remembered Sun Yat-sen’s message and mentioned it to Mei Fei.

      “Ah, yes. That was the man who escaped before the Empress could learn who was in league with Prince Ke Loo.”

      “Then Dr. Sun told the truth.”

      “I do not know all of what happened, only that Prince Ke Loo has opposed the Empress and she vows to destroy him. Unfortunately, many are in sympathy with Prince Ke Loo, especially the people in the northern provinces who—” She leaned closer. “—who wish to be rid of what they call the Empress’s tyranny. It has a great deal to do with the foot-binding of female infants. Many are complaining, saying if the women of the royal families do not bind their feet, why must the peasants?” Mei Fei shook her head, looking shocked. “I do not know what is happening of late. The people are so outspoken. Of course, Wu Lien tell us the Boxers are behind all the unrest. They are inflaming the peasants with their talk of freeing China from Western influences, all of which they say the Empress condones. A terrible time is coming, April. I feel it as surely as I feel the mare beneath me.”

      April had stopped listening. She was working on a plan to reach America with the Empress’s blessing. The need to avenge herself on David’s father and then on Lydia was paramount in her mind. She’d need the Dowager Empress’s help and she had a good notion as to how she would go about getting it. Afterward, she would come back and have her revenge on Her Imperial Highness—and she knew exactly how she intending going about that also, thanks to Dr. Sun.

      You will be avenged, David, she vowed to herself. If it takes my lifetime, I will see to it that all those responsible for taking you from me will pay dearly for what they did.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      The party for Empress Cosmetics in the main ballroom of the San Francisco Hotel was lavish. A huge cake dominated the buffet table, the number “9” sculptured in yellow frosting. Almost everyone in the city’s social register was there, dressed in their finest, wearing jewelry that lay most of the year in private vaults.

      Lydia mingled easily with the guests, all the while keeping an eye on the doorway. She had not seen Peter MacNair for several months and hoped he would come to her anniversary party tonight. Secretly, she prayed he would come alone. His wife, Lorna, made it only too clear how much she hated Lydia. The scene Lorna made at the Hearsts’ party a few years ago was still vivid in everyone’s mind. Why Lorna had openly accused her of causing David’s death was incomprehensible, but Lorna MacNair made it known to everyone there that Lydia Nightsong made her fortune as a result of a theft and had encouraged her son to duplicate her crime.

      “My son David was murdered because of this woman’s example,” Lorna had charged. “And one day I will get even, I swear it.”

      It had caused a scandal, but Lydia was accustomed to scandal by this time. First was that sordid business with Walter Hanover, the man who bankrupted her and then blackmailed her out of fifty percent of her now thriving Empress Cosmetics empire. Peter MacNair had bought Walter off and still held a right to half her fortune, though he never claimed it, even when his own cosmetic firm was on the verge of collapse.

      When she glanced toward the door again Raymond Andrieux touched her arm. “Who are you waiting for? Peter MacNair, I suspect.”

      Raymond was still the same handsome Frenchman she’d hired as her nez years and years before, the only man with the unique talent of duplicating the scent she’d taken from the Dowager Empress when she and April fled China. Without Raymond there would never have been an Empress Cosmetics empire, let alone a ninth anniversary. Without Raymond and the exclusive