almost, and I was glad he’d come with me before anyone in the capital had had reason to discover his intelligence.
I stared at the commander’s boots instead, afraid to be caught observing anything higher. He moved back and forth between us like a hunting dog deciding upon its prey; but, at the very least, he hadn’t yet addressed me at all. If he continued to glance over me—like my brother glanced over his servants—then we’d be safe.
“So you are headed to Honganje,” the Commander went on, “in order to visit your sister’s newborn son?”
“Traveling since the war ended,” Kouje replied stiffly, clearing his throat.
“Not a ruffian, I hope,” the commander said.
“Just can’t seem to settle down, that’s all,” Kouje said.
“You traveled all this way alone?”
“I had some companions with me. Men I met in the war.”
“And your companions?”
I could hear a smile creep into Kouje’s voice. “Lost them to the bright lights of the capital, I’m sorry to say. Just couldn’t drag them away from the pleasure quarters. But me? I couldn’t settle down in a place like that, with all the women looking at me behind my back like I’m some kind of bear. I need more space than those rooms allow.”
“Hm,” the commander said. “You’ll forgive me for all the questions, my lord. We must take as many precautions as we may.”
“I understand your duty as well as I understand my own,” Kouje replied.
The commander cleared his throat, and I saw him gesture with a willow branch toward two of the guards—whose feet were waiting, boots caked with dust, just behind him.
“Pardon our interference,” the commander said. “It will only be a moment, but our duty demands that we search your belongings.”
“I understand completely,” Kouje replied.
But he couldn’t, I thought desperately. My clothes were in there—the fine silk robes I’d worn the night Iseul meant to kill me. Those were no country lord’s effects, nor were they a courtesan’s parting gift. They were too fine for that. The moment the guards saw them we would be suspect. Had Kouje forgotten them, or had he simply seen no way to prevent the search without appearing yet more suspicious?
If only I could have seen his face. His eyes would have told me everything. But, without that, I knew I had to warn him.
We were close enough that I managed, with my free hand, to grab at his sleeve.
The guards, just at our horse, stood still.
“Your manservant is overly familiar,” the commander said. “What a curious choice for a simple lord such as yourself.” He advanced upon me, lifting the willow branch as command. “Show me your face, man,” he ordered.
“No need,” Kouje said, a terrifying steel in his voice. “He has shown such disrespect before, and I have always taken care of it.”
“Perhaps not well enough,” the commander said. “Show me your face.”
Kouje moved more quickly than I knew he could, as quickly as the fabled warriors of old lore. With a sharp cry—to anyone but me, it would have seemed a noise of rebuke, but all that I heard was pain—he’d grabbed the commander’s willow branch in one hand.
And then he was beating me with it.
The first lash was too much of a shock to hurt. I registered no pain at all, but the second was fierce enough to send me to the ground. I fell, and the dust clouded up around me as Kouje brought the willow branch down upon me like a lash. Like, indeed, a master beating his servant.
I brought my arms up to shield my face, though I noticed too late that he was not aiming there, but for my forearms and shoulders—where, perhaps, I might not be too badly injured. Pebbles dug into my legs and I curled in around myself, wondering whether or not Kouje had taken leave of his senses entirely, if the madness of our escape had at last driven him mad.
Surely he had a reason.
The willow branch sliced into the rough cloth at my elbow and tore it. Blood had been drawn, and I was not the only one to know it.
“That should be sufficient,” Kouje said, hoarse and breathless.
“You have been too cruel,” the commander replied. There was some rebuke in his voice.
“Servants must learn their place,” Kouje countered, and kicked at me. “Get up.”
“Still…” the commander said, but trailed off. No man dared to tell another how to treat those under him. It was up to his discretion, and interference was an insult.