22. FATE OF THE FAITHFUL
ESTHER
“We’ll be landing momentarily, Mr. Lord. Thank you for flying with us.” The pretty brunette air hostess flashed her white teeth at him as she took his coffee cup.
“Excuse me,” I said with the politest voice I could muster, even smiling as I lifted my glass to her. “Do you mind if I get one of those little cookies again? If you’re not too busy.”
“Of course,” she replied taking my glass as she left. I watched her go and smirked happily to myself when Malachi unnecessarily cleared his throat…again as if he were trying to not laugh at me. Glancing up from the tablet in front of him I asked, “Malachi?”
“Hmmm?” He looked up as the hostess came back with my cookies.
“Thank you,” I said to her as I opened the pack and looked at him. “You’ve cleared your throat a few times since we’ve gotten onboard. Is something funny?”
“Have I?”
“You have.”
“Hmmm.” He nodded to himself but the grin that slowly started to form on his lips gave him away. “How about you ignore that and I’ll ignore the daggers you shoot out of your eyes whenever you see the hostess.”
“Have I?’ I mocked him.
“You have.” He nodded. “Though I do have to admit I like the jealous side of you.”
“Me? Jealous? Ha!” I crossed my arms and legs. “Why would I, the woman currently involved in a love story that spans a thousand lifetimes, be jealous?”
“That’s what I, the man who has only ever had eyes for you in a thousand lifetimes, wants to know.”
I twisted my mouth until my jaw popped because I had no reply. Instead, I pointed to the tablet again. “Well? Do you think Mr. and Mrs. Yamauchi will like it?”
“I dislike cliffhangers.” He frowned as he swiped right yet didn’t see the rest of the page. Reaching over I took the tablet from him and put it away into my bag.
“Sometimes they are necessary.”
“Yes, if there will be a second book or if you want to annoy the hell out of your readers.”
I grinned happily. He clearly wanted more instead of ripping it apart like he’d done the last time. “It’s annoying because you want to read more.”
“Are you writing a second one?”
“Nope.”
“So you’re just going to leave your audience hanging like that.”
“You have strong arms, remember? So don’t mind the cliffhangers,” I said as I lifted my arms and hung onto the imaginary cliff like Mr. Yamaguchi had done over a year ago. “So just…hang in there.” I grinned as he drew in his breath and groaned helplessly.
“Wow,” he shook his head at me.
“So I take it I no longer write like an English major anymore?”
“No, you do, but it’s more tolerable now.” He buckled his seatbelt as we began our descent.
“Would it kill you to just come right out and compliment my great literary talent?” I asked just as the jet hit a patch of turbulence and my heart sank into my stomach as I froze for a quick second.
“It just might.” He laughed.
“Shut up!” I grumbled as I leaned back and took a deep breath before I looked out the window. The view of Lieber Falls from the sky was just a mystical as I remembered. Unlike last year, the whole town was already blanketed in snow, from the mountains down to the frozen lake in the distance.
“I called some people in town…we missed the first snowfall, obviously,” I said as we touched down.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait until next year for the snow, won’t we?” he replied as he stood up and offered me his hand.
“Look who’s Mr. Positive now.”
“What can I say, you’re contagious.” He winked.
I grinned as I grabbed my bag and his hand, and together we walked toward the front of the private jet he’d chartered. Apparently, there were no direct flights to Lieber Falls from New York and, after recalling the hassle it had been to get here the last time, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was a little relieved. Nodding to both the hostess and the pilot, I shivered at the cold air that blew across my face once we stepped out onto the hanger.
“Is this the reason you said not to pack anything?” I asked as we walked towards his awaiting motorcycle. I’d only thrown my makeup, wallet, and toothbrush into my backpack when he reminded me how much stuff I’d left behind. I couldn’t remember what I’d left, but for some reason I enjoyed the thought just getting up and going without having to worry about taking anything with me, it was like going home.
“It was one of the reasons,” he said sheepishly as he kicked his foot over and sat down. I should have known when he’d told me to wear a leather jacket.
“Fine, but I’ll drive.”
“Come again?”
Reaching into my bag I searched my wallet and proudly pulled out my motorcycle license for him to see. He took it from me as his mouth opened slightly. I’d never seen him so shocked, and to be honest, I don’t know he could be shocked.
“You really can get anything in New York.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Is this real?”
“It is!” I tried to grab it back from him. “If you aren’t man enough to let a girl drive you around, just say so, Mr. Lord.”
He bit his lip and nodded to himself before he slid back to make room for me.
“Thank you very much.” I handed him my bag, donned the smaller helmet and mounted the bike. I felt him behind me as his hands slid around my waist and his body pressed itself against my back. In that moment, he took over all my senses. I couldn’t move anymore and pretty soon, I felt myself remembering the night before—how he’d laid on top of me, how his skin had felt against mine.
“Are you going to go?” he whispered directly into my ear, proving that he knew exactly what he was doing.
“You’re distracting me,” I muttered as I dismounted and took my bag from him. “I’ll show you that one day when you aren’t riding me—I mean, riding behind me.”
He snorted at my slip as he slid into position and allowed me to climb on behind him.
“Aren’t we going?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded as he zipped his jacket all the way. He handed me his gloves and I put them on and snaked my hands around his waist. I held on tightly, as I let my head rest on his back, and when the engine roared to life it didn’t scare me like it once did but brought me comfort. I closed my eyes and held on as we sped out of the hanger and onto the main road. Soon the airport faded into the distance as we rode towards the town and my mind began to shift, just like it had done in the office. I found myself in the present and in the past once more. Watching a disgraced princess who was dressed in red and yellow silk robes, hold onto the former rebel with the only arm she had left. Her body was slumped over his back and though she was dying she smiled as they rode as quickly as possible towards the coast. Her black hair caught in the wind and flowed out behind her, and as her brown eyes met my brown eyes it was almost as if she could see me. Her gaze was unwavering, and we gazed at each other until we arrived at a fork in the road and she went left while I went right and down the path that led us to the very familiar wooden house with large windows. The driveway had recently been shoveled and the garage stood open which allowed him to drive right inside and stop in front of the door.
Neither he nor I said anything as we walked up the steps of the garage and into the house. With the exception of the white sheets that covered the furniture, everything looked exactly the same as the last time we’d been here. But then again how much could a house change? The high interlocking wood ceilings were still high, the gray couch still faced the arched windows, however, what I wasn’t expecting to see was the photo that stood beside the lamp. Walking over to it, I picked up the frame and traced the image of my unamused grandfather and a teenaged version of myself taking a selfie together.
“Forgive me,” he whispered as he walked up beside me and looked at the picture. “I saw it during the reception for his funeral and I kind of, well, I stole it.”
“You came to the funeral?”
He looked hurt. “I was there from beginning to end.”
“You didn’t say anything—”
“You told me to stay away from you, remember?” he replied though I’d honestly forgotten. “You really believed I wouldn’t come?”
I nodded. “I figured you didn’t want to risk it with Li-Mei. You were trying to avoid her, well me, but—”
“Alfred is—he was my only family. Of course I’d go, no matter the risk.”
“Only family besides me,” I added cheerfully.
He nodded. “Besides you.”
“So I don’t have to stay in the guesthouse?” I asked as I put the picture back down.
“What guesthouse?” He pretended as if he had no idea what I was talking about. “There is no guesthouse. As a matter of fact, there isn’t even a guest room. You’ll just have to make do sharing with me.”
I laughed and hugged him. “I missed it here.”
“I missed you here.” He hugged me back before he picked me up and spun me around.
And as I laughed everything went black.
April 24th 1644- Kunning Palace, Beijing, Ming Dynasty
I ran as fast I could, trying not to look at their faces as I grabbed the arrows behind my back, one by one, and brought them forward, sending them flying directly into their chests. It knocked them onto their backs and created a path that led right into father’s chambers.
“Princess!”
All I could see was her black hair spinning around her like a storm as her body shielded me from the dagger that flew directly into her neck. Her eyes locked with mine for only a second—no, half of that—before they closed and she fell to the ground. I couldn’t mourn, I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t scream, I could only run towards my family as the guards made way for me while they fought, giving their lives for us—something many of those in the city had long given up on doing.
We just need to escape. We can escape. It was the only thing I thought about as I threw myself into the doors open so forcefully that I almost fell as they opened before me. Turning around I slammed them shut and managed to slide the latch into place and keep the doors closed. But the sight inside was much more horrid than the sight outside of it.
“K..Kunyi?” I gasped as I stumbled inside and saw my sister, my best friend, laying in a pool of blood at the feet of… “Father?”
He stared at me covered in the blood of our family. Seeing him like that…the bow in my hand dropped to the ground. The sword stained with royal blood tightened in his hands as he turned to face me crying, sobbing yet dazed.
“Why?” It was all I could ask. Why? Why had he given up? We could have escaped. Couldn’t we have escaped?
“Why must you be born into this family?!” He screamed at me and I was so stunned, so scared, that I lifted my arm and drew my sword and slowly its metal met my skin and sliced right through. I felt nothing but anger. Anger at myself for caring, for leaving him to save them…
MALACHI
September 26th 1646- Guáng ān mén, Beijing, Ming Dynasty
“We made it Princess,” I whispered unable to look away from the blue waters in front of us. We were finally outside the city’s walls, facing away from the Forbidden City, the imperial palace that was once her own, but under the new emperor had become her prison. We even faced away from the sun as it set behind us, but she said nothing, and she’d never say anything in this life again.
Her last request had been to ride together, but in actuality she’d asked for me not to watch her die again. We were to ride as if we were trying to outrun our fate. Holding her now cold hand as they gripped my robes I used the other to cover my mouth as I coughed so hard the horse was startled and birds flew from their nest above us. When I took my hand from my mouth I saw that it was stained with my blood. I smiled as I balled my hand into a fist and wiped the blood from my lips.
“Is it not amusing, beloved,” I whispered to her. “The emperor you served has killed you and the emperor I put to replace him has killed me. Is it not….” I bit back the sob that threatened to break through my lips. “Is it not a cruel but humorous fate?”
***
Waking up, I found my gaze clouded by my own tears. I wiped the tears from my eyes and sat up on my bed as a familiar throbbing headache rang throughout my head.
“Esther?” I called out when I did not see her beside me. “Esther?” I panicked and rose to my feet. When she’d collapsed, I brought her to the room but I must have had a memory after that.
Stepping out into the hall I found that she wasn’t there either but I smelled coffee.
“Esther?”
“In here.”
Her voice was soft, barely audible even. Following it, I walked straight towards the art room where I found her sitting in the center of the room with her old quilt around her shoulders and a coffee pot beside her. All the paintings I’d created for her were now uncovered. She looked at me over her shoulder and her face…she looked so exhausted yet she still smiled at me and lifted the cup beside her.
“Coffee?”
“Let’s go, you shouldn’t stay in here…it’s—”
“Creepy?” She snickered. “I thought it was romantic at first, when I didn’t know it was me, but now, yeah, it’s a bit odd, but I don’t mind it, you caught my good side each time.”
“It’s hard not when you have no bad side,” I said, leaning on the bedframe. She smiled and then looked back at one painting in particular.
“Princess Changping, daughter of Emperor Chongzhen, you warned me to get out. You told me that there’d be an attack and I ran to help my family, and he’d already killed most of them. He tried to kill me, but I lost my arm instead. That’s where I was. Where were you?”
“Two years after that, at the eastern gate of Beijing. Emperor Li was worried that I’d revolt against him and had been poisoning me. Ironically, he died before me. You died on the way, the infection from losing your arm had spread to your heart,” I answered honestly, not realizing we’d been seeing the same lifetime.
She hung her head and her hand shook. “Why are we tortured like this? We can’t even enjoy this life…”
“We can.”
“HOW?!”
Marching over to her I took the coffee from her hands and pulled her to her feet. She refused to look at me, but I lifted her chin and she glared at me in anger.
“We enjoy now by not getting caught up in then. If we miss a minute then we enjoy the next one twice as much. Let’s not talk about it. Let’s just...let’s go get food, let’s take walk. Let’s pretend it never even happened and keep going. We aren’t them. We are us.”
She looked at me for a long time before she took a deep breath and relaxed. Cupping her face, I kissed her gently. “Feel better?”
“I’d feel better if I could smack Emperor Chongzhen and Emperor Li!” she muttered and I couldn’t help but snicker.
“The greatest thing about living new lives is knowing those who hurt us received justice somehow.” It was why there was nothing to do but live. “Come on.”
She followed me and closed the door, locking it as if it would lock all our pain behind it as well.
“So, what do young people do for dates these days?” I asked putting my arm around her shoulder.
She looked up at me stunned for a second before breaking out in laughter. It was the first time I’d felt comfortable since waking up.
“Oh, you are going to regret that question!” She broke free of me and sprinted towards the stairs, already bouncing back to her usual self. Nothing could keep her down for long.
“Why?” I asked chasing after her. “Esther?”