The Slave's Necklace by Amanda Roberts

Author:Amanda Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Empress Publishing

ELEVEN

Jiayi’s heart caught in her throat. She wasn’t even sure how she managed to squeak out Zhihao’s name.

She knew that Rebecca had already kissed Zhihao once since he had told her about it. But he had insisted that he had rebuffed her advances. Only minutes before, he had insisted that he was in love with Jiayi. But now, here he was, back in Rebecca’s arms, her body exposed, their limbs and lips entwined.

“Jiayi!”

When Zhihao called her name, the spell that seemed to have frozen her limbs was broken and she stumbled backward into the hall and dashed back to the stairs. She heard Zhihao call her name again, and then Zhihao and Rebecca arguing, but Jiayi could not make out their words, and she didn’t want to. She needed to get away from this place. Get away from him. She ran out the front door and down the street back toward the legation gate. She was halfway there when she heard her name again and felt a hand on her arm.

“Please, Jiayi,” Zhihao said. “It wasn’t what you think. She threatened to hurt herself. I was trying to stop her.”

“By kissing her?” Jiayi asked.

“No,” Zhihao said. “Not…She kissed me while I was trying to disarm her.”

“I didn’t see a weapon,” Jiayi said, even though she hadn’t been looking for one. Her vision had blurred as soon as she saw Zhihao and that woman together.

“It was a letter opener, I swear,” Zhihao said. “She dropped it.”

Jiayi shook her head and started to walk again. “Why are you even here?”

“I came to talk to her and Henry about Hu Xiaosheng’s murder,” he said. “To find out if they were involved. But Henry wasn’t there. I didn’t know that before I arrived.”

“Were you just going to ask if they killed him?” Jiayi asked. “Was that your plan?”

“I…didn’t really have one,” he said.

Jiayi scoffed. “You never do.”

“What are you doing here?” Zhihao asked. “How did you even get in?”

“I told you, I’ve been in the legation before,” she said, and she paused and looked down a side street as a memory took hold. The first vision she’d ever had was right here in the legation.

“Snuck in, you mean,” Zhihao said. Jiayi ignored him as she turned and walked down the street and stopped in front of the large white house she had once been inside so many years ago.

“What is this place?” he asked. “Did you work here?”

“No,” Jiayi said. “After the Boxer Rebellion, the foreigners were fleeing, leaving behind their valuable goods. I was looking for things I could take and sell.”

“You were stealing?” he asked. She looked at him and saw the judgment on his face. She shook her head. Not because he was wrong, but because he would never understand. He had never been hungry or cold. Never knew what it was like to wonder if each meal would be your last. If your sisters would survive the winter. If your mother was going to sell you…

“Never mind,” she said, and she went back toward the gate.

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