cheek against his palm. She wanted to close her eyes and savour the caress.
‘You know the danger of declaring your allegiance to me,’ he said.
‘I do.’
‘I will not blindly surrender to Shen.’
Her heart plummeted at his warning. ‘I know that as well.’
It was a great concession for him to consider negotiating with the Emperor, but Li Tao would stand behind his principles to the death. It was in his blood and nothing could change that about him. To approach the Emperor was a great risk, but for the first time in a long while, she dared to hope. Li Tao wasn’t resigned to civil war and execution as she had feared. He was considering another way.
His face showed neither hope nor relief as he watched her. If anything, the tension had become more clearly etched in the lines around his eyes.
‘See what power you have over me,’ he said.
She tried not to be wounded by the bite of cynicism. ‘The Emperor is an honourable man. Shen will be moved by your gesture of compromise.’
‘I can still fulfil our bargain and relinquish you to Shen, as we agreed.’ His jaw tightened even as he suggested it. ‘You can stay clear of this conflict and go free.’
Li Tao was in an unpredictable position and his domain was the heart of danger. She would be reckless to stay, she couldn’t ignore that. Survival was a matter she knew more than a little about. She’d always managed to choose the right side whenever the current changed within the imperial palace.
But what life did she have alone, running and hiding? She didn’t have Changan any more or the mansion by the river that the late emperor had built for her. Li Tao, as calculated as he was, was willing to take a chance. She could be his equal beside him. She could try. Wasn’t that what she was asking for, what she hadn’t known how to ask for, just several nights ago?
And delicate politics was also a matter she knew more than a little about.
‘Tao, let us be honest.’ She took his arm. ‘Our original agreement was an illusion. It means nothing any more.’
Li Tao was stepping into the unknown and doing it willingly, but he didn’t like it.
It was like the first time he had taken a knife in his hands. He hadn’t even known how to grip the weapon. It was like his first battle. It was worse. He was no longer a man with only his own life to lose.
If his negotiation with Shen failed, then it meant war for him and for the empire. Imperial and regional armies fighting and killing one another. The neighbouring kingdoms and the barbarian invaders of the west could simply wait for the empire to burn down its own house. Li Tao had come to realise that he didn’t want that either.
Suyin was seated before him in the saddle. She was becoming more accustomed to the ride, no longer digging her nails into his arm. The best swordsmen of the first battalion rode at the flank and rear guard. They were safe within the borders of the province, but he couldn’t guarantee anything beyond the barricades.
He’d been content to take orders under the rule of Emperor Li, but those were different times. The Emperor had given him command of the district and Li Tao had known nothing about how to govern, how to lead men, how to gain respect. He had studied warlords like Shen and Gao, but he’d always known that he couldn’t mimic them. The August Emperor had needed a different sort of force. Li Ming had known about the balance of power and how it was so easily toppled.
They cleared the shade of the forest and Suyin tilted her face up to the sun to soak in the light.
‘You look like you’ve been released from prison.’ His arm tightened around her.
She leaned back against his shoulder and glanced at him through her lashes. ‘I’ve seen nothing but the same rooms for days and days.’
It had been nearly a month since he’d first found her. ‘You were content to stay by your river and wither away.’
‘No longer. When we return, you should show me every corner of this province.’
Her tone was too bright, lacking in its usual fluid harmony. He’d come to expect more subtlety from Suyin. He moved his focus to the road ahead.
‘Be assured of your success and you cannot fail,’ she said quietly.
So they had become adept enough at reading each