Love, Death & Lanterns: Lotus Palace, #6

By Jeannie Lin

A second chance at love, or will his need for revenge steal away their one chance at happiness? The latest story in the bestselling Lotus Palace Mystery series.

 

Three years ago, Pearl and Lu Xian were forced together by tragedy and formed an unexpected bond. After they were abruptly torn apart, Pearl returned to her life as a courtesan and was left wondering what could have been.

 

Once a promising scholar, Lu Xian threw away his future to avenge his father's murder. After being in exile, Lu Xian has returned to the capital to finish what he started.

 

While Pearl is the best thing that happened to Liu Xian, he's the worst thing that has ever happened to her. Can two survivors afraid of holding on too tight find a way to believe in on another? Or are the wounds of the past too deep to heal? 

 

Ciick now for a tale of long-held desire, revenge, and redemption set in the glittering pleasure quarter of the Tang Dynasty!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeannie Lin
• Release date: Aug 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223390206

Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin grew up fascinated with stories of Western epic fantasy and Eastern martial arts adventures. When her best friend introduced her to romance novels in middle school, the stage was set. Jeannie started writing her first romance while working as a high school science teacher in South Central Los Angeles. Her first two books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and The Dragon and the Pearl was listed among Library Journal's Best Romances of 2011.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Tang Dynasty China, 853 A.D.

It was Sixth Month and another full moon. Once the sun went down, the parks of the imperial city began to fill. The pavilions came alive with softly lit lanterns and music, and Pearl was there to pour wine. To pour compliments. To be the center of attention when her patrons wanted her to be and to disappear into the furniture when they no longer needed the distraction.

Chang’an truly consisted of two cities, a daytime city and a nighttime one. Pearl had lived in the sprawl of the capital all her life and she would have to say she knew the night more than the day. The moon was her sun. The taste of wine was more familiar than tea.  

On this particular evening, Pearl wore her most eye-catching outfit. She called it her pheasant dress with its layers of vermillion and gold silk with accents of emerald green. Madame Shi had told her before they headed out from the courtesan house that she needed to attract the attention of a worthy gentleman. Perhaps some minor official or bureaucrat. Someone steady whose patronage would help the House of Heavenly Peaches through the coming winter months.

So here Pearl was, a colorful bird released into the park for the hunt. Unfortunately, she always attracted the wrong sort of attention. Over in Madame Shi’s side of the pavilion, gentleman scholars quoted poetry while gazing at the moon. In Pearl’s circle, young gallants competed for who could share the juiciest bit of gossip: The illustrious Miss Lingling of South Lane was heartbroken because her long-time lover refused to buy out her indenture. Courtesan Lin Guorong was enamored with Scholar Zhaoshu.

And who are you enamored with, Miss Pearl? asked Wei Chao, a nobleman’s son who hoped to pass the imperial exams in the next year and probably wouldn’t.

Pearl cast a glance his way. Pointed, knowing, revealing nothing. Her hand never paused in the pouring of the wine. 

Wei fell back with a hand pressed dramatically to the wound in his heart. Those eyes! he gasped.

The foolery continued. Wei Chao was taunted for the unspoken rejection. Another pale-faced scholar hinted that he might already know what she had to offer behind that smile. Fortunately, the cad was quickly rebuffed by his peers. Otherwise, Pearl would have needed to cut him down herself.

She would have done it neatly, like the gentlest of assassins. A long habit of attracting the wrong admirers had allowed her to hone that skill.

Why become enamored with one moon when there are so many stars in the sky? she cooed smoothly.

Strategically, she chose that moment to glance away from the circle. It would be disastrous to make eye contact, however fleeting, with someone after such a coy statement. As she turned her head, someone outside the pavilion caught her attention. He was just beyond the glow of the string of lanterns draped around the perimeter.

She blinked once, twice to find the figure had moved away. Her breath caught and the wine, which she’d managed to pour unerringly until that moment, splashed over the rim of the cup.

You must be distracted by my good looks! Wei Chao crowed.

She looked to the nobleman, then back to the empty spot where someone had been watching them just a moment before. Her heart pounded.

How clumsy of me, she murmured.

She’d had only a moment’s glance, but it was enough to take in a shape, a form. More importantly, he’d had a presence. One that was out of place here at this gathering. 

A successful courtesan was naturally good with faces and details. How else would she convince an admirer that he was the one, the only one? But this face was one she’d never mistake. The broad shape of the jaw, the grim mouth. Those eyes.

It took but one glance to know when she had been longing for the sight of someone, searching for him in places she knew he could not possibly be. Pearl had been searching like that, both hopeful and desolate, for the last three years.  

We’re out of wine, she announced. It was a lie.

The drinking circle groaned dramatically.

I’ll get more. Pearl straightened with the flask in hand only to be yanked down onto someone’s lap.

Don’t go, Pretty Pearl, the scholar protested in an oily tone that made her wish she had a hairpin ready. Just call a servant.

Pearl twisted in the scholar’s grasp, all the while trying to not spill any wine and maintain decorum. Nervous laughter came from a few of his companions. She started to snap at him that he’d had too much to drink, but she bit her tongue. She was supposed to manage such mishaps.

Once again there was movement just outside the pavilion. She caught it out of the corner of her eye and her throat tightened.

Manners! Wei Chao admonished, rising to extract her from the claws of his drinking companion.

The watcher receded into the shadows and Pearl tore herself apart from her captor, agitated.

I’ll be back.

She hurried down the steps of the pavilion. From the far end of the gathering, Madame Shi’s eyes lifted sharply from her instrument though her fingers continued moving over the strings.

Pearl tore her gaze away from her mistress. She’d have to come up with some explanation later. A figure dressed in dark scholar’s robes was slipping through the trees.

She encountered a serving girl on the walking path. Here, we need more wine. Pearl thrust the wine flask into the girl’s hands before rushing off.  

Pearl’s robe whipped about her ankles as she chased after the scholar. The outfit was made for long, elegant movements that allowed the silk to flow around her like water. At the moment, her movements were anything but elegant.

A cluster of moon gazers gathered on the wooden bridge that arched over the river. From there, they could appreciate the full moon as well as its watery reflection.

Pearl wove through them, desperate to catch the figure before he disappeared into the crowd. It was like chasing a ghost. A dream encounter whose face refused to be revealed.

She broke through the crowd and left the bridge behind. By the time Pearl neared the edge of the park, she was breathing hard and her heart pounded with nervous excitement.

Lu Xian! Even though there was no one around, she didn’t dare speak louder than a whisper.

Pearl stared into the darkness. She’d strayed far from the lanterns and the music.

Lu Xian! she called again, the name catching in her throat. Are you there?

There was nothing but the chirp of the cicadas and the whisper of a breeze through the leaves.

Desperation set in and Pearl had to force herself to breathe. It had to be Lu Xian. The black and gray hanfu. The set of his shoulders. And that one brief sight of his face. She couldn’t forget his face even if fifty years had gone by. But what was he doing here? 

Beyond the park loomed the vast maze of the city. If he’d disappeared into the streets, she would never be able to find him. She shouldn’t be running after Lu Xian anyway. Not after everything that had happened. Not after what she knew he was capable of.      

Pearl wrapped her arms around herself and stared out into the unanswering darkness. If Lu Xian had returned, there could only be one reason and she didn’t want to think of it. It was a long time before the chill of the evening and the emptiness of the night chased her back to the pavilions.

Lu Xian closed his hands around a bushel of grain and hefted it up from the hold of the riverboat onto the embankment. From there, another pair of hands would lift it onto a wagon.

The sun beat down overhead. He’d been at the river port from the moment the sun had first risen. Sweat soaked through the thinning material of his tunic. Another bushel. The weight of it pulled against his back and shoulders. It would be this way for the rest of the morning. An endless chain of work while the sun rose higher and grew hotter.

It was better not to count, he’d learned. It was better not to estimate how much grain each barge held. The mind-numbing rhythm of the work was a saving grace.

Suddenly a cooling breeze cut through the haze of heat and exhaustion. Except there had been no breeze. His eye had simply caught sight of someone standing upon the bank. A flutter of silk the color of ripe peaches.

Lu Xian turned to reach for the next bushel of grain. He kept his face directed away as he lifted it.

It’s you, she said. I know it’s you.

That voice.