Part 2, Chapter 20

We need a plan

Ch 20

Leng Zai bemusedly followed Xun. She seemed unusually agitated, so he sat next to her on the bench and gently stroked her palm. He was pleased when she didn’t pull her hand away.

“How should we handle this, Leng Zai? We need to get the pendant from the Emperor, but the timing…”

Ah, Leng Zai thought, she’s still worried about that. 

Xun linked her fingers with his and started picking at his nail.

Leng Zai shrugged, “Before he goes to war?”

Xun frowned at him, “Yes, obviously, I have no desire to go to a battlefield. But the Emperor barely leaves his room these days, except to attend court. Even his meals are brought to him.” She gave his nail a particularly hard pluck and Leng Zai winced. “If they were delivered by the kitchen staff it would be easy, but he only lets his page into his room.”

“What about on the way to or from court?”

She shook her head. “He has his personal guard clear the corridors. You would think he had something to hide with the way he’s been acting.”

“Maybe he does,” Leng Zai said, stilling her hand. He was pretty sure her last attack had drawn blood. “After all, the Sea Witch is still in the Palace and we don’t know exactly how his pendant is related to me. He seems like he has many secrets.”

Xun frowned and absent-mindedly moved her attention to his next finger. “True.”

Leng Zai tipped his head back, rolling his neck. “So not through his meals, not in the halls, and not at court.”

“Why not at court,” Xun said, her fingers stilling.

“No,” Leng Zai said. “There are too many people and he’s too heavily guarded. Do you really think a cook and a dish boy can take on the Emperor’s personal guard in front of the representatives of the three realms and get close enough to rob him? No. Too risky.”

“We could disguise ourselves as pages,” Xun said thoughtfully.

Leng Zai clamped his hand over hers and she looked up at him, startled. “No. Too risky. Do you know what would happen to you if we were caught?”

“Who says I would get caught?” Xun asked cheekily.

“Do you know the court protocols?”

“Well…”

“How low does a page bow to a General?”

“Ummm…”

“How do you introduce the Lord of a High Family?”

Xun was silent.

“If you think they aren’t going to notice that you have no training you haven’t thought this through. Especially when the Emperor is as paranoid as he is.”

“Well then, we can only try sneaking into his room at night. Shun told me that the Empress is sleeping in a different chamber because of her progressing pregnancy. There won’t be any witnesses at least.”

Leng Zai sighed, “Let’s hear your plan.”