lady. ‘I’m a carp trying to leap over the dragon’s gate,’ she muttered.
‘I’m surprised Lord Chang would think of such a thing.’ Dao ducked in close to inspect the arch of one brow. ‘He’s always been so proper and upstanding.’
‘This would be quite the scandal, wouldn’t it?’
‘Quite!’ The servant lifted the thread again. ‘But I think it sounds wonderful. To become a princess. The poets write lovely verses about the heqin brides, about how beautiful and treasured they are.’
Yan Ling pouted. She was neither beautiful nor graceful. In the afternoons, she sat through lessons on etiquette and diplomacy with Fei Long, but she questioned whether any of it was any good. She still felt like the same awkward teahouse girl while she strolled from the front courtyard to the back, trying to flow and glide like a cloud. Or a crane. Or anything much more elegant than herself.
‘There.’ Dao made one more painful yank and then handed her the mirror. ‘See how it brightens up your face?’
Yan Ling stared at her newly shaped eyebrows sceptically. The ends narrowed in what was supposed to be the fashion of the day, according to Dao. ‘So that was all I needed. Now I’m a lady. I thank you greatly.’
‘Monkey.’ Dao snorted and gave her a shove.
One of the attendants from the front of the house came into the sitting room then to announce a visitor.
‘For me?’
The young man nodded. ‘Li Bai Shen, by the lord’s invitation.’
Fei Long had left that morning without telling her anything about a ‘Li Bai Shen’. Old Man Liang wasn’t present either. She didn’t know if she was ready to carry on the deception for an outsider. She glanced once more in the mirror. Her eyes did look different—somehow more intense and focused—but she didn’t feel it inside. She patted a hand over her hair. It had been pinned up on top and then allowed to fall loose in a cascade behind her.
The young attendant led her to the parlour at the front of the mansion. The gentleman was already seated on the couch. His robe was adorned with a brilliant border of maroon brocade and his topknot was affixed with a straight silver pin. He had narrow, handsome features, with dark eyebrows that accented his face in two bold lines.
He poured himself a cup of wine from a ewer that had been set before him and leaned back with his legs crossed at the
ankles, taking in the sitting room décor with a bemused expression as if he were master of the house.
She stopped at the edge of the sitting area. ‘Lord Li.’
Self-consciously, she executed a bow, keeping her hands folded demurely within the drape of her sleeves.
He smiled when he saw her. Setting his wine down, he lifted himself to his feet and came towards her with a powerful, yet graceful stride. He was deceptively tall in stature, his build lean and wiry. He circled her, head tilted as if to get a better look. His grin widened to reveal the indent of a dimple against his cheek.
‘Not bad, Fei Long.’ His voice held a hum of approval.
‘My lord?’
He reached to tuck two fingers beneath her chin and she swatted at his hand. He chuckled.
‘Who are you anyway?’ she demanded.
He straightened and pulled back his shoulders dramatically. ‘My good friend has asked for help. Li Bai Shen is here to honour that bond of friendship.’
He spoke his name with authority as if anyone would know it. She wrinkled her nose at him.
He tapped his chest twice. ‘Bai Shen is one of the premier actors of the Nine Dragon theatre troupe and that, dear miss, is not a pretty face you’re making. I can see why Fei Long needs my help.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You have two months to become a well-born, well-mannered lady, correct?’
‘Yes.’
Bai Shen made a sweeping gesture with his hand. ‘I am here to ensure your success.’
‘You?’
‘No other. I played the Princess Pingyang at the Spring Festival before the Emperor himself.’
This was who Fei Long had enlisted to teach her how to be a woman? She knew that men played all of the female roles at the opera, but Bai Shen didn’t seem at all womanly.
‘This is a joke,’ she scoffed.
‘Have you ever known Chang Fei Long to joke?’
She couldn’t argue with that.
Bai Shen leaned in close, a fellow conspirator. ‘To be truthful, it is quite complicated being a woman.’
‘It is!’ she agreed wholeheartedly.
‘There are a thousand looks. A hundred gestures. I’ve studied them all.’ He circled his