usually be doing right now,’ she ventured. ‘Riding out and seeing to your domain.’
‘Yes.’
Her pleasant smile never wavered. ‘You’d rather be doing that. This idleness is torturing you.’
He didn’t answer. ‘What did you want to discuss last night?’ he deflected.
‘Later, later. We have all day, do we not?’
Her form of persuasion was gently insistent. It disturbed him how much he wanted to indulge her. It lightened his spirit to see her smiling. Happiness was one emotion Suyin couldn’t fabricate effectively, no matter how practised she was.
‘Let us go before the sun is high.’ She came to take his arm again as they stood, as if he’d escape if she didn’t hold on to him. Her eyes were bright with excitement as she looked up, her impulsive energy almost child-like.
Reports indicated Gao had sent an envoy of five thousand men. Shen at least an equal number, perhaps greater. A bit more than one would expect for a peaceful diplomatic visit. They were only two weeks’ march away.
He found himself nodding, conceding to her. All Suyin wanted was a day and they had few left between them.
The footpath cut deep into the bamboo grove, the air surrounding them damp and cool in the shade. Li Tao remained characteristically taciturn beside her. Every stone tormented her feet through the thin soles of her slippers, but she didn’t want to complain. The path began to climb upwards and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d walked for so long without stopping.
‘Are we going far?’ she asked mildly.
Li Tao looked back to where she had stopped. ‘Do you need to rest?’
‘A little while.’
Despite the coolness of the forest, she dabbed the perspiration from her forehead with her sleeve. The bamboo stalks climbed upwards until they disappeared to a point in the sky. Sunlight only pierced the forest in tiny pockets. The endless green was making her dizzy.
He came back to her side. ‘I can carry you.’
She cast him a slanted look. ‘You’re leading me this way to torment me.’
The slight smile he gave was barely an answer, but he slowed his pace when they resumed walking. She took his arm again and this time his fingers curled around hers. Her chest shouldn’t swell with happiness like it did, having him walk beside her as they spoke of nothing. In these moments, she almost glimpsed what it would be to sink comfortably into a life together. To be old and grey like Auntie and strolling through the garden on Li Tao’s arm. To hear the laughter of grandchildren.
Whose dream had she borrowed? It couldn’t have been her own.
They emerged on to a plateau overlooking the valley and the breath rushed out of her. The bamboo forest shimmered below, stretching outwards to touch the edge of the sky in the distance. The wind stirred the fronds in gentle waves. The slight rustle even sounded like water.
‘A person almost could forget their sorrows here,’ she murmured.
Li Tao came to stand beside her and, for the moment, they were the only people on earth beneath the sun and the clouds. She wished desperately for him to put his arms around her, but he kept his hands clasped behind him as he looked meditatively over the emerald sea. He was always so controlled. Only in the bedchamber did his restraint begin to crumble. His eyes would grow dark when he moved within her, falling closed only when the pleasure took them both. Her skin flushed so hot that she feared he could sense it through the space between them.
‘What is that?’ She pointed across the valley. A man-made structure interrupted the natural contour of the mountainside, partially hidden by the forest green.
‘Observant,’ he said with a note of admiration. ‘There are watchtowers all along the cliffs. Guard houses, stockades.’
A numbness crept into her fingers. He revealed the information without reservation, without care. As if she were too insignificant to be a threat, or he no longer needed to hide his intentions. It certainly couldn’t be that he trusted her. He presented a striking profile, his gaze fixed impassively on the distant cliffs. She searched the line of the ridge for the fortifications he spoke of.
‘How many men do you command?’ The words scratched against her throat.
He looked directly at her until she squirmed beneath his scrutiny. ‘Old Gao has likely convinced the Emperor that I’ve raised an army of hundreds of thousands to oppose him.’
‘But you have been building an army.’
When he didn’t answer, she pushed on. ‘You can’t win