Unintended Cultivator

“Lo Meifeng’s right,” said Grandmother Lu. “You should use sects to secure your holdings. It’s efficient.”

Sen nodded and even managed to keep a calm expression while he did it. He’d been getting a lot of practice at those just lately. He’d also been dragging his feet on the decision to use the sects because… He sighed. It was just because he didn’t like it. He knew it was the right move. He’d just been hoping that Grandmother Lu would have some excellent reason that they shouldn’t do it. Accepting the inevitable, he looked over at Lo Meifeng, who was at least making half of an effort not to look smugly satisfied.

“Make the arrangements. Negotiate whatever seems like fair payment.”

“I will,” said Lo Meifeng. “Now that we’ve finally settled that, we should move on to—”

The door opened and Long Jia Wei stuck his head into the room. Sen could hear Pan Shiji making infuriated noises in the other room.

“Yes?” asked Sen, praying that the man had some crisis that needed to be dealt with immediately.

“Lord Lu, there is a woman here to see you.”

“What woman?” demanded Grandmother Lu, Lo Meifeng, and Pan Shiji in perfect, annoyed unison.

Long Jia Wei cast a wary look around before turning to Sen again.

“She introduced herself as Hsiao Jiayi. She claims to be the ambassador from some kingdom called Kanshun.”

“That’s who she really is,” muttered Sen. “The real question is, what the hell is the princess doing here?”

Long Jia Wei took a heartbeat or two before he said, “I didn’t inquire as to the purpose of her visit. I thought it might be indelicate to do so.”

Sen fought down the urge to be annoyed with the man. He probably would have been annoyed if Long Jia Wei had asked what she was doing there. Sen suspected he would have been annoyed if Long Jia Wei had shown up with bags of gold and announced that the heavens had given them a thousand peaches of immortality. Everything was annoying him these days. He’d been in this city for too long. Dealt with too many people he didn’t like and didn’t trust. It was all just getting to him. But it seemed that his prayer had been answered. He rose from his seat, instantly triggering a squawk of protest from Lo Meifeng, and a disapproving glower from Grandmother Lu. He gave them an even look.

“Are you suggesting that I leave a foreign dignitary to cool her heels in the entryway?”

“No,” mumbled Lo Meifeng in a dissatisfied tone.

“I suppose it’s more trouble than it’s worth to annoy a princess. Even if she is from Kanshun.”

There was rancor in Grandmother Lu’s voice when she said Kanshun, although Sen had no idea why. He’d have to try to remember to ask her about it at some point. He turned to Long Jia Wei.

“Take me to wherever you stashed her highness.”

***

Hsiao Jiayi knew that she hadn’t been left to wait for that long. However, it felt like it was taking forever. Doubt had started creeping in about this decision. What if she’d misread him? What if he decided that she was more trouble than she was worth and just killed her? She had come to his manor uninvited. He could make up any story he wanted and no one here was going to contradict him. The servants, the mortals, would say whatever he told them to say. The cultivators she could sense weren’t going to defy him. Not when it would all but certainly mean joining her in death. As the seconds ticked away, she started giving more and more serious consideration to simply fleeing. This was a terrible idea, she thought. You should have approached him somewhere else. Somewhere more public. Somewhere with witnesses who might tell the truth if he turns murderous. Hsiao Jiayi had convinced herself that it was time to go when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked to a set of stairs. She saw the hired killer, and then her eyes shifted up.

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Damn it to the thousand hells, she screamed in her head. She’d thought that after that first exposure to the man that she’d be over this. But her heart had started racing again, and she found herself just wanting to stand there and look at Lord Lu. Well, she wanted to do that after she did a lot of other things with him or maybe to him. She wasn’t even sure. She forced herself to look away. No, she thought, it wasn’t quite as bad as the last time. Looking away had just been painfully difficult, rather than nigh impossible. Of course, now the man was practically in front of her and she couldn’t remember what expression he’d been wearing. She looked up at him again and willed herself to focus on his actual expression. He didn’t look pleased to see her. Time to start working on that problem, she told herself. She offered him a polite bow, one that was usually reserved for equals. She honestly didn’t know what was correct in this circumstance. As a noble, he was beneath her, but his personal strength dwarfed hers. She thought it probably balanced out. She offered him a smile that she’d been told was very charming.

“Hsiao Jiayi greets Lord Lu.”

His expression didn’t change in the slightest. He had not been charmed. She didn’t know what she’d expected after seeing him with Lia Dongmei. He probably didn’t find anyone else in the world charming or beautiful. He bowed back, but it was a negligent thing, almost offhand, practically designed to offend.

“Your highness. To what do I owe this,” his lips twitched in a way she couldn’t interpret, “pleasure?”

***

Sen did his best to reign in his frustrations as he watched a series of emotions flicker to life and then die on her face. There was uncertainty, a bit of anger, a bit of hopelessness, and some determination. Don’t be an ass to this woman just because she’s a princess, he told himself. You can’t just automatically assume that anyone with a noble or royal title is beyond redemption. She hasn’t done anything to you. Just to give the woman a chance to regroup, he turned to Long Jia Wei.

“Thank you,” said Sen. “I expect I can handle things from here.”

The man gave Hsiao Jiayi a cool, evaluating look before he bowed and withdrew. That look might have worried Sen if the man didn’t give almost everyone the same treatment. He supposed universal suspicion was one way to get through life. It probably wasn’t the best way, but it wasn’t like Sen had room to talk. He’d spent years in exactly that state, and he’d been a lot more hostile about it. Returning his attention to the ambassador, Sen sighed and tried to inject something like friendliness into his voice.

“Ambassador, was there something in particular that you wanted to discuss with me?”

If nothing else, the softer tone seemed to let the woman relax a hair.

“Lord Lu, our conversation ended,” she seemed to search for a politic word, “abruptly the other evening.”

Sen considered and rejected several possible answers before he settled on something simple.

“True. It did.”

“I was hoping we might continue it. I thought it might go more smoothly if we spoke with less scrutiny on us.”

It seemed obvious that the woman was after something. Sen just couldn’t guess what. She was choosing her words with a lot of care like she was worried he’d discern some evil plot from a slip of the tongue. There was no way around it. If he wanted to find out what she was actually after, he was going to have to indulge her in this conversation she seemed to want so badly. He just wasn’t sure he wanted to bother with it. He already had enough work for six men. Whatever this woman wanted, he didn’t delude himself into thinking it would be anything but more work.

***

He’s going to send me away, thought Hsiao Jiayi. She could see it in his eyes. She could feel it in the air. The distrust. She’d forgotten that he hadn’t started out life as a noble. He’d started as a commoner in this kingdom. He hadn’t been bred to consider every word before uttering them. So, all the care she was taking with her words looked like manipulation. And maybe it is, she admitted to herself. If nothing else, she was aiming to get the best outcome for her. Beyond the distrust, though, she could see his desire to not be bothered. There was a weariness in him that he did a good job of masking, but it was evident for those with the skills to see. She also had the intuition that, should he send her away now, that would be the end of it. She would become someone he might pass a few words with if he ever showed up to another political function, but a wall would go up between them that reached to the heavens. A wall she would never pierce. She needed to shift this dynamic, and she needed to do it now. She took a stab in the dark.

“I don’t particularly enjoy this city,” she said, being utterly honest. “And my trip here was taken at speed. I assume there are things worth seeing beyond the walls. I’ve considered going out to look for them, but it seemed ill-advised to do so without a guide. Perhaps you could show me?”

She knew she’d hit the right note when an almost desperate need crossed the man’s face. He wanted to be away from this city. He clearly didn’t care where, just as long as it was beyond the walls.

“Yes,” he said, reaching out, grabbing her arm, and almost dragging her toward the door. “Let’s go. Right now.”

He cast an almost hunted look over his shoulder as he pulled her outside. The treatment was so abrupt, so base, that she couldn’t help but laugh a little. Anyone who tried something like this back home would find one of her blades buried in their chest. Yet, one look at his face said he wasn’t really trying to drag her toward something, let alone something untoward. He was trying to outpace something.

“Is there a rush?” she asked, still giggling a little.

“Gods, yes,” he muttered. “We need to go before they figure out that I’m escaping.”

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