Page 101 of Night's Reckoning
“I wish I could kiss you one more time.” Tears and rain wet his face. “I really wanted one more dance.”
She put her lips down to his ear, and her tears mixed with his. “Shhhhh.”
Something broke inside him, and he cried. His body was motionless, but harsh sobs burst from his mouth. “I didn’t want to die yet.”
“I know,” she whispered. “You won’t.”
She pressed her cheek to his and let her amnis slip over him.
“Tenzin don’t… don’t… dooon’t…” His voice trailed off as she put him into the deepest sleep she could risk. His heartbeat slowed. His temperature dropped.
“Be calm.” She flew past the lights of Shanghai without even slowing. “Be calm.”
She flew through the darkness. She didn’t stop. She didn’t slow. She didn’t think of anything but her father in the courtyard of her house, feeding the fish. Drinking tea. Waiting to finally pay his debt.
He will be there.
He will be there.
He will do this for me.
Ben’s eyes were closed, but his heart was still beating when she landed in the courtyard of her house.
Her father was nowhere to be seen.
Tenzin lifted her voice and screamed, “Zhang!”
Jinpa came running. Mei came running. She ignored their cries of surprise and shock. They ran toward Tenzin.
“Stop!”
They halted, both holding hands over their mouths.
“Zhang Guolao!” she screamed again.
Her father stepped through the doorway of her house. His face was grim and his eyes severe. He took in the situation in an instant. He was old. He had seen battle. He would know the favor she asked of him before she opened her mouth.
Tenzin gently placed Ben’s body on the ground, propped him on his side, faced her father, and allowed her tears their release.
She lowered herself to her knees and put her forehead to the ground.“Aabmen.”
“Min zuvu.”Zhang’s voice was pained. “What have you done?”
Tenzin crawled on her hands and knees, her face turned to the ground, until she reached her father’s feet.
She could smell the cooking fires and hear the stomping ponies. Taste the blood in her mouth as his sons laughed and kicked her as she passed through the gauntlet.
Tenzin reached Zhang’s feet and put her forehead to the ground again, her ears tuned to Ben’s slow heartbeat.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She pleaded in his mother’s tongue. “Aabmen, I ask this of you.”
Zhang was silent.
“My father, I ask you—”
“Daughter, he did not want this fate.”
