“Your Highness,” she said as she dropped into another deep curtsey. “Please forgive Lord Daniel. I am very nervous at meeting someone of your great stature.”
“Nonsense, nonsense!” the Prince Regent crowed. “You are quite lovely. Come closer. Let me get a look at you.”
That’s what the captain had said so many years ago.Let me get a look at you.Her English had not been good then, but she had understood. And now—
“It’s her art, my liege,” Daniel interrupted. “Let us—”
“May I explain it?” she abruptly asked. “Every stroke, every image is about you.” She said the word while facing the Prince Regent, but her gaze had shifted to Daniel. Because that was the truth. She had made the painting for him.
“For me?” the Prince Regent asked, glee in his tone.
She looked back at the man. “May I explain?”
“Yes, yes. But bring it closer.” It was an obvious ploy to bring her to his side, and of course, the footman wasted no time in lifting up the easel and carefully setting it right next to the royal. Li-Na held back, her palms wet with sweat. She was being ridiculous. This was not a repeat of her last moments in China. And yet—
“I will explain,” Daniel said softly. “Don’t worry.”
“You can’t,” she said, her voice growing stronger the more she looked directly at him. “This is my heart on display.” Then she allowed herself to soften. “But please, stay close.”
“Always.”
And so, she took her fears in hand and tossed them aside. She would paint them out tomorrow, but for now she faced the Prince Regent, all while thinking of Daniel. Her words were for her love, even as she appeared to speak to the Prince Regent.
“What image can I give to a man who is ferocious and yet carries himself with grace? One who has the power to destroy, and yet chooses instead to watch and protect?”
She smiled at the Prince Regent, steeling herself for his gaze to rake her body. But in this she was surprised. He appeared to be thinking of her words. His lips were pursed, and his brows rose as he seemed to consider the thought.
“Can you not guess?” she asked. Then she whipped off the cover. There in the center of her picture was Daniel as she envisioned him. A tiger on a ledge, his claws fierce, his eyes piercing. In her mind’s eye, he gazed over his territory as he protected all who lived within it. But on the canvas, the creature turned to the viewer. His gaze was mesmerizing—at least to her—and she knew it could turn deadly as easily as it could remain warm.
“A tiger!” the Prince Regent cried. “Well, that’s certainly unusual. And so fierce!” Then he waved at the animal creeping into the painting from behind the tiger. “But what…what is that thing?”
“A monkey, Your Highness. See how happy she is? She is content in the tiger’s realm.”
“Of course, he’s content! He’s stealing from the tiger,” the Prince Regent said, unconsciously switching the monkey’s gender. Then he grunted. “There’s always someone, isn’t there? But why doesn’t the tiger just eat him?”
That wasn’t at all what she’d meant by the image, but she knew better than to disagree with royalty. “He will,” she said. “Look into his eyes, Your Highness. Can you not see his power?” She did. Every time she looked at Daniel.
“But he’s not looking at the monkey. He needs to turn around.”
“He will, Your Highness. Just like you will. But for the moment, the warning is for the viewer. To the one who would think to emulate the monkey. It will not work.”
“No, I disagree,” the Prince Regent continued. “I think the monkey encourages the viewer. I think it says, just wait until he turns around, then you can do anything you want. But I can’t always be looking everywhere at once!”
Obviously, there was some grievance here. Prinny felt someone was attacking him whenever his back was turned, and no wonder. She had seen the broadsides. Every day sported a new attack.
“Your Highness,” Daniel began as he stepped forward. “Don’t look at the monkey. See the power in the tiger. Sinews of steel, eyes that cut and demand the world surrender to his will.”
“But the monkey is right there. He should be wiped out. A few slashes of the brush and he will be gone forever.”
Li-Na shuddered at his words. The Prince Regent didn’t know that she was the monkey, living well under Daniel’s protection. She was safe to eat whatever she wanted while he defended her from every danger. The idea that she could be wiped out with a single brushstroke had her shuddering with fear. And what was Daniel doing? What he always did, of course. He was directing the Prince Regent’s attention elsewhere. To the tiger, to the artwork, to everything but seeing her.
Unfortunately, Prinny would have none of it. He was growing surlier by the second, and so Li-Na had to fix it. It was her painting, after all, and her thoughts.
“He’s right,” she said loudly, as she stepped out from behind Daniel. Everyone looked at him, but it was Daniel who spoke.
“Your painting is beautiful, Li-Na.”
She smiled. Of course, he thought she was worried about that. But her paintings weren’t about beauty. They were about her thoughts given voice. And since this painting wasn’t about the Prince Regent, he naturally felt the wrongness of it. And so, she made an offer, one that she had never made to anyone before.