Chapter 15 The Peace Lock
After the divine doctor left, Lan Zhi came to pay her respects.
She was Consort Lan now. She had changed into a blue-green robe, but her lips were still painted red.
Since I became pregnant, she often came to Jiaofang Hall.
At first I guarded hard against her. I thought she meant to harm me, the way she had tricked me outside the study last time and run to tell Xiao Yan.
Later I came to believe she only loved Xiao Yan too much.
From what I saw, her attachment to him ran deep. Any child of his, even in another woman's belly, drew her close care.
After all, the one she saved back then was not the original Crown Prince, but the Xiao Yan of now. It seemed to me the salvation and love she spoke of had only ever been about that madman.
I even feared the original Crown Prince's disappearance was not without her part in it.
Now her eyes were bright. She asked if she could touch my belly.
I nodded. She held out her severed hands. The stumps rubbed carefully over my belly.
"This is Your Majesty's child."
The light in her eyes glittered. She seemed truly glad.
I did not believe she would harm Xiao Yan's child.
It was Xiao Yan's manner toward his own child that always left me cold with fear.
About my pregnancy, I could not tell whether he was glad. He often sat to one side with no expression and watched me.
Those bright black eyes did not move. The stare made my skin crawl. Just when I could hardly bear it, he suddenly brought his head to my belly.
So close. His nose pressed against my navel.
It frightened me.
Seeing my face go white as I looked at him, he laughed at me.
"A Yue, is your courage so small?"
He reached out. A peace lock hung down and swayed before my eyes.
"I went to Fahua Temple myself to pray for it. Do you like it?"
He put it on me.
The lock was fine, set with pigeon-blood rubies. Droplet-shaped soft-gold tassels swayed lightly.
He kissed my cheek.
"A Yue, our child will surely grow up safe."
I thought perhaps he truly looked forward to the child's birth.
The noble emperor would even hold me and read storybooks, coaxing me to sleep the way one coaxed a child.
But the heat woke me in the night. I turned over and felt something staring at me.
I opened my eyes. He was straddling me. His fingers traced the air over my belly.
It looked as if he meant to cut it open.
Cold sweat poured off me. He acted as if nothing had happened, yawned, pulled me close, and slept.
Only I lay with my eyes open, awake the whole night.