“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Ling Qi grumbled as she and Xiulan approached the outskirts of the town at the base of the mountain. The sharp autumn wind tugged at the hem of her gown, briefly revealing the black and silver slippers she wore beneath. It was a testament to her trust in Xiulan that despite her discontent, she was still going along with Xiulan’s request.

  Xiulan rolled her eyes above the golden veil that covered the lower half of her face. The wide sleeves and the train of her rose colored gown trailed behind her elegantly. “I do not understand why you are being so childish about this,” she said, exasperated. “It is not as if we are going to kidnap you for a ceremony this very hour.”


  “You would if you could get away with it,” Ling Qi sniped, half serious. She knew Xiulan wouldn’t do such a thing to her, but her family…… Well, who knew. Talk of betrothals and contracts made her jumpy.

  “Spouse theft went out of fashion with the unification, Ling Qi,” Xiulan commented dryly. “Really, who would be so gauche?” She then deliberately changed the subject, asking, “You like the new hair style?”


  Ling Qi huffed, reaching up to toy with pale lilac ‘petals’ of the ornament pinning her hair back. Gu Xiulan had helped her pick it out. The clip was silver, decorated with what looked like a live orchid flower. It seemed cultivators could do a lot of frivolous things with formations. With the hair pin, most of her hair was pulled back and hung loose down to the middle of her back.

  The Ling Qi of six months ago would have quailed at the price of the medicinal solution Xiulan had coaxed her into using. She had to admit that it had good effects though. Even unbound, her hair was perfectly straight and smooth. “I’ll get back to you. I don’t know if it is going to get in the way yet,” she answered grudgingly.

  Xiulan gave her a flat look. “If you cannot manage so simple an exercise in your sleep, I shall eat your left shoe.”


  “Not your left shoe?” Ling Qi shot back as they passed the city gates. Feeling a prickle on the back of her neck, she glanced to the side and saw a young mortal boy their age gaping at them from a market stall. He flinched away when he met her gaze and quickly busied himself. Ling Qi felt a moment of satisfaction followed by a twinge of guilt.

  Unmindful of her thoughts, Xiulan laughed. “Of course not. To ruin my own pair would be a travesty.”


  Ling Qi let out an amused sound in response. She supposed that there had been no reason to glare, but she was still feeling on edge. “So where are we meeting this cousin of yours anyway?” Ling Qi asked as they passed through the street, untroubled by the morning crowd.

  “In the square,” Gu Xiulan replied. “Relax. This is a polite offer and enticement, no more. There is no need-”


  “Lan-Lan!” A male voice broke over the sound of the crowd, and Ling Qi blinked, looking ahead as people moved aside for the owner of the voice.

  Xiulan’s perfectly sculpted eyebrow twitched violently, pulling at her scars. “.…… Tai, did I not ask you to wait?”


  Ling Qi caught sight of the speaker a moment later. Her first impression was that she could see the family resemblance. The young man in the street ahead had the same refined features as Xiulan, but they were of a hard cast and his skin a shade darker, tanned by the sun more than birth. His hair was streaked with lines of dark red, rather than being a solid red, and was bound in a top knot. As he approached, Ling Qi could see that he had a few centimeters on her and a lean build. He didn’t seem to be much older than eighteen or nineteen.

  “Asking me to stand around for so long – isn’t that a bit cruel of you?”


  “Lan-Lan?” Ling Qi asked in a low voice, barely moving her lips as she glanced at her friend.

  The withering look she got in return put to rest any thoughts she had of teasing her friend…… for the moment. “I see patience still eludes you,” Xiulan said haughtily, crossing her arms to look imperiously up at the taller boy.

  “A curious accusation,” Gu Tai said with a shrug. “Cousin, you know perfectly well that no Gu without gray hairs has a drop of that.”


  “At least he’s honest,” Ling Qi said, studying him critically despite her flippant response. Gu Tai wore a loose vermillion jacket patterned like the feathers of a bird over a more tightly fitting black silk shirt with red highlights along its center. A familiar bright red fingerless glove covered his right hand.

  “The lady of the hour speaks!” Gu Tai said brightly, offering a bow of greeting. It wasn’t shallow enough to be mocking, but it also wasn’t one which conveyed a great deal of formal respect. “It pleases me to meet you in person, Miss Ling. Xiulan’s letters have been quite colorful in the past months.” Ling Qi wasn’t quite sure how to take that comment so she just gave him a polite smile in response.

  Xiulan caught her questioning look and let out a quiet sigh and slight shake of her head. He just had that kind of personality, it seemed. “Tai, I think the both of us would prefer not to turn this meeting into a street show.”


  The mortals were very deliberately ignoring them while leaving them space as far as Ling Qi could tell, but a handful of people who read as first realms were watching them curiously. “Yes, I am glad to meet one of Xiulan’s relatives, but this is a little public, isn’t it?”


  The older boy nodded easily in response, his good cheer unaffected. “If that is the lady’s wish,” he said politely. “But I am surprised to see you express such a sentiment, La-” Ling Qi was fairly sure that she saw his hair smolder under the force of Xiualn’s glare. “Xiulan,” he corrected.

  Ling Qi followed the two fire cultivators further into town, feeling slightly bemused. Given Xiulan’s situation, she had almost expected her relatives to be very proper. This Gu Tai, for all that he was a third realm cultivator, didn’t give that impression. Then again, if Xiulan had told her family so much about Ling Qi, perhaps he was simply acting for her benefit.

  She allowed herself to fade into the background of the conversation as her two more bombastic companions traded jibes with an air of long familiarity, only offering an occasional comment when prompted. Gu Tai was difficult to read, his higher realm obscuring much of his nature, but she could get a feel for his secondary element at least. Where the purity of Xiulan’s flames had been mixed with the explosiveness of lightning, her cousin had a strong tinge of wind like a forge fire stoked by powerful bellows.

  They soon arrived at their destination, a rather elaborate building near the center of town. It seemed to be a teahouse and restaurant catering to the settlement’s elite. Although the staff of the establishment was still mortal, Ling Qi caught a whiff of first realm qi from the kitchens.

  The elderly matron who came out to lead them to their reserved room was early second realm. From the pleasantries traded, Ling Qi picked up that she was the owner. She supposed the Gu family was pretty distinguished. Her own perspective was probably kind of skewed with Bai Meizhen as her roommate.

  Soon they were seated in a private room filled with a light flowery scent. An open window and balcony provided light from the pleasant day outside. Ling Qi seated herself next to Xiulan while Gu Tai sat opposite them.

  “Have you examined me to your satisfaction then, Miss Ling?” She blinked as Gu Tai spoke up, referring to her directly. “I did not imagine you a shy girl, so I assume your silence was one of thought.”


  “I did not want to interrupt you and Xiulan,” Ling Qi deflected, meeting his dark brown eyes. “You two seemed to be enjoying yourselves.”


  “We have already caught up well enough over the past week,” Xiulan interjected evenly, eyeing her cousin with irritation.

  “Perhaps,” Gu Tai admitted. “Yet I cannot help but feel that I have not yet succeeded in my goals.”


  “I am not a child anymore, Tai. Your foolery is unnecessary,” Xiulan snipped. “Do not insult Ling Qi by ignoring her so.”


  Gu Tai let out a thoughtful hum and returned his gaze to Ling Qi. “My apologies if that is how it came across, Miss Ling. I am, of course, glad to have your company. You have been very quiet though.”


  “It’s no trouble,” Ling Qi said uncomfortably. “I am uncertain about how I am supposed to act,” she admitted.

  “Understandable,” Gu Tai said lightly. “I suppose you have not had much experience with betrothal negotiations.”


  Ling Qi barely kept her expression neutral, thoughts flashing back to memories dredged up by recent events.

  Tai continued speaking though, as if he didn’t notice her discomfort. “.…… an insult to your grace, of course. What louts these southern nobles must be.”


  “Right,” Ling Qi agreed a little thickly. “I…… What exactly does this…… I mean, what do you want?” She stumbled over her words, and Xiulan shot her a look of confusion and concern.

  The young man sitting across from them peered at her carefully, his easy smile fading. “To be blunt, our exalted grandfather has negotiated with the Han for a portion of the new lands opening up in the latest wave of reclamation.” He paused, glancing at Xiulan. “How much does she know of Golden Fields?”


  “Little, I expect,” Xiulan replied absently, studying Ling Qi’s face. “Most of our province is ruins and ash. The land is so soaked in warring sun and death qi that it poisons those who attempt to live there.”


  “Except the Walkers,” Gu Tai continued, resting his chin in his hands. “Dreadful creatures. However, we have steadily cleansed stretches of land enough to render them…… livable.”


  Now Ling Qi was confused. “I’m not sure what that has to do with what we were talking about,” she ventured.

  “Aside from providing an enticing vision of your prospective home……” Gu Tai said with a bit of humor. “I intend to be among the settlers wrangling the newly reclaimed lands. This would mean beginning a branch house, for which I would, of course, like a lovely and talented wife,” he continued brightly. “Preferably one which would not mind getting her hands a bit bloody at times.”


  Ling Qi glanced away, feeling confused. This wasn’t quite going how she had expected it to. She looked to Xiulan for help.

  “It is typical to seek new blood in the establishment of branch houses,” Xiulan explained airily. “The Golden Fields bloodlines are somewhat…… insular.”


  “This did not stop your honoured Father from claiming a bride from the capital,” Gu Tai noted. “It was rather scandalous at the time,” he added in a more conspiratory tone, looking to Ling Qi with a grin.

  “Ancient history,” Gu Xiulan dismissed with a sniff. “The Golden Fields have been opening up for centuries now. Even the senior generation has acknowledged the foolishness of continued isolation.”


  “I shall be sure to inform Aunt Xiaoli that you consider her to be ancient,” Gu Tai teased. “But yes, as unromantic as it might be, the offer is a practical matter,” he said, returning his attention fully to Ling Qi. “Your talent and rapid growth have drawn my uncle’s eye, and he believes us to be a good match. I have no objections. You are a bit young yet, but by the time negotiations are over, that should no longer be a problem. You will be a lovely woman by then. Your more practical talents are a much more important consideration.”


  Ling Qi felt conflicted. At least this time, the one complimenting her appearance wasn’t some disgusting slime like Huang Da. But this offer still felt very transactional to her. She didn’t bother asking the question on the tip of her tongue. Gu Tai was clearly fine with marrying someone he didn’t even know. “I understand. I think. So if I agree, we ship off to Golden Fields and start scrabbling in the sand?”


  Xiulan frowned at her, but Gu Tai laughed. “There would indeed be much scrabbling,” he admitted. “But nowhere else in the Empire will you find the possibilities of past treasures and rich resources, lost under a bit of sand and ash,” he said, the lines of thunder running through his qi pulsing. “I am afraid it would be at least two years, more likely three, before any such things were finalized. You would have to remain under the Sect for that time.”


  Ling Qi relaxed a little. She didn’t like it – the idea still rubbed her the wrong way and made some part of her feel like she was selling herself – but this offer didn’t feel malicious, even if all she had to go on was gut instinct and a half year’s spotty experience with nobles.

  “That sounds like it might be interesting,” she conceded. If marriage wasn’t involved, it would be really intriguing actually. The part of her that found joy in her heists thrilled at the idea of plundering long lost vaults. “I hope you do not mind if I do not give you any answer today though.”


  “Of course not,” Gu Tai said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I think Xiulan and I have the recklessness quite covered as it is.” He flicked his wrist and a crisp, stiff letter appeared between his fingers, which he held out and offered to her. Ling Qi took it gingerly and gave him a questioning look. “That contains the full text of my uncle’s offer, Miss Ling. Please review it at your pleasure.”


  Ling Qi nodded, carefully storing the letter away. By the thickness of the envelope, she had a feeling that she would want some help reading over it. Still, this gave her time to think – and another option, if she felt that Cai Renxiang’s offer was not to her taste.

  They continued to chat as the food was brought in, but it quickly returned to the two Gu family members dominating the conversation, despite Gu Tai and Xiulan’s occasional efforts to draw her into the conversation. She didn’t need to make her decision yet. Gu Tai would remain here until the end of the year regardless. Apparently, he was serving as the Gu’s representative in a number of minor negotiations at the moment. If she wanted, she could try to get to know the young man better before she made her choice.

  Threads 132: After-Action 1

  The medicine hall was a hive of frantic activity. Disciples rushed back and forth with supplies and equipment. Potent medicinal energies suffused the air, filling it with conflicting scents of flowers and spices and blood.

  Ling Qi stood in the entrance hall, one among many. On the wall before them was posted a roll of names. There were fifteen of them in total now, but Ling Qi knew that more had been added since the first posting. It was a list of the Inner Sect disciples who had died.

  There was a name there that she recognized.

  Shen Hu had been assigned to the mission below to defend the construction and formation disciples. Already, there were rumors, a whisper from one of the production disciples he had defended. He’d taken one of the tunnel entrances and held it against all comers until the defensive arrays behind him had finished and Elder Jiao’s project had snapped into place.

  It seemed Shen Hu had really taken the Bloody Moon’s Dream to heart.

  It was a relief that it hadn’t been someone she knew better. That it had not been Li Suyin or Su Ling, or even Xuan Shi. The thought shamed her, but it was there all the same. She had liked Shen Hu well enough, but there had just never been time to get to know him better. Now, she never would. It was a bitter feeling.

  Sixiang whispered.

  It was probably a little wrong that she didn’t feel something more though, Ling Qi thought. He was only an acquaintance, but shouldn’t she feel something more than a muted sadness?

  Sixiang thought carefully.

  “Ling Qi?”


  Ling Qi looked away as someone called her name. There was Li Suyin, looking haggard and exhausted and wearing a physician’s smock spattered with blood and other things.

  “Li Suyin? Are you alright?” Ling Qi asked, stepping out of the crowd. She scanned her friend for injury, silver gleaming in her eyes. She saw only exhaustion, an echo of burns, and the lingering marks of cleansed shishigui corruption. “Were you one of the ones down there?”


  Li Suyin nodded and swayed. Ling Qi was at her side in an instant, catching her before she could fall. At some point, her friend had reached the appraisal stage in her cultivation.

  “I was, but I wanted to keep helping. Went to the medical wards after,” Li Suyin muttered as Ling Qi helped her move out of people’s way. “The elder just sent me away, ordered rest.”


  Ling Qi grimaced. That sounded like Li Suyin alright. “Was Su Ling down there too?” she asked, dreading the answer.

  Li Suyin leaned against her, eyes drifting shut. “No.”


  That was something. “Li Suyin, what happened down there?”


  “They just kept coming,” Suyin whispered, her voice barely audible over the noise of the hall. “They fought, and they died, and it just didn’t stop. Dying only made them stronger.”


  Suyin paused and took a shuddering breath. “Elder Jiao was fighting, and it felt like we were the infection, and they, the body fighting back. There was so much pain.”


  Ling Qi thought back to the fourth realm she had encountered down there, the nails driven into its flesh, and the self-mortification she had witnessed in their rituals. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to be in the presence of something like that except scaled to fight an elder, one whose cultivation would match the thing that had come from over the southern mountains.

  Ling Qi felt a chill.

  “C’mon, let me help you get home,” Ling Qi said quietly, turning her friend toward the door. “You should rest.”


  She cast one more look at the list, eyes scanning down the names. She paused briefly as her name caught the last name on the list. She hadn’t noticed it before, focusing on Shen Hu.

  It seemed Yan Renshu had died down in the dark as well.

  At least she didn’t have to feel bad for not mourning .

  ***

  “It feels a little surreal, doesn’t it?” Ling Qi asked.

  They sat together in Renxiang’s study. The furniture had been pushed aside to make room, and yet, even then, Renxiang’s rooms were a study in clockwork precision. Everything was spaced just so. Her liege sat across from her at the center of part of the repeating geometric pattern in the carpet. Ling Qi sat opposite in the center of another. Briefly, she had considered seating herself just a touch to the right, but she didn’t have the energy for jokes.

  She kept remembering that list of names. Had she known any of the others on that list? Had she spoken to them before and immediately forgotten their faces?

  “We were already at war,” Cai Renxiang replied.

  “It didn’t really feel like it before,” Ling Qi said. “The barbarians just got a sucker punch in, using a method we didn’t expect. That was what it felt like, didn’t it? They weren’t a

  threat. That’s why we were still worrying about sect ranks and the elders were still taking volunteers instead of giving orders and……”


  Cai Renxiang’s fingers tightened on her knees, and Ling Qi fell silent. For anyone else, it would have been nothing, but she could read the frustration and regret in the girl’s posture. Their talk from before the mission felt wrong now.

  Sixiang whispered.

  “Matters have indeed escalated beyond heightened raiding,” Cai Renxiang agreed blandly. “Tell me, Ling Qi, are your spirits well?”


  Ling Qi ducked her head and accepted the deflection from the subject. She tried to focus inward as she organized her thoughts. The cultivation of Playful Muse’s Rapport was not coming easily to her right now.

  Sixiang muttered, uncharacteristically bitter.

  “Zhengui is well. He’s very tough. Even the injuries he took will be better in a couple of days, now that the impurity is out of his system,” Ling Qi replied. She had visited them after their release from the physicians. Zhengui seemed satisfied by his performance for once. “Hanyi…… She’ll be fine too in time.”


  “I believe you had an event planned for her. Will her wounds allow it to go forward?” Cai Renxiang asked. Faint radiance flickered in the room, casting shadows at perfect right angles.

  “She won’t let it stop her, even if it takes awhile to heal. It’s not like she actually needs her throat to sing, any more than I need my flute to play,” Ling Qi responded. She was confident in Hanyi because Hanyi was confident in herself. Half of healing the body came from the mind. Her eyes strayed to Renxiang’s own bandaged throat. “What about you? I saw those stains on your domain weapon.”


  Renxiang continued to breathe steadily and rhythmically in her mediation. “The stains will out. It is merely a matter of time. Their resistance is vexing however.”


  “Do you think your mother will notice?” Ling Qi asked. It wasn’t the real question. Obviously, the Duchess will notice, but will she react?

  “They are not permanent,” Cai Renxiang said. Ling Qi didn’t comment on the faint tremor that entered the girl’s voice. “We performed above any reasonable expectations given the situation.”


  Did they perform above the Duchess’ expectations though? She had to hope that they at least met them.

  Of course, that left aside the matter she had been avoiding. After the medine hall, she had almost gone back to the elders. But if there was a chance to make those lists shorter in the future, shouldn’t she take it?

  Sixiang whispered.

  Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ling Qi thought wryly.

  they protested.

  “Lady Cai,” Ling Qi said, speaking up carefully. “Before we start preparing, I think there is something I should tell you.”


  Maybe it was her tone, but when Renxiang opened her eyes, Ling Qi thought she saw a hint of dread there, even with the radiance shining from her pupils……

  She wasn’t that bad, was she?

  ***

  The court of Xiangmen was overwhelming.

  It was not merely the crowd of cultivators standing in, the very weakest of which matched or exceeded her cultivation. She had endured crowds before after all. Last year’s tournament had let her experience that. It was not the baleful radiance shining down from the throne above, the terrible pressure that crushed down on her shoulders. After the attack, she could endure the mere passive attention of the Duchess.

  No, it was Xiangmen itself.

  This place thrummed with power. Even projected here by the formation’s device, Xiangmen itself threatened to overwhelm her. Each of the twelve bone columns that supported the ceiling hummed with a primal beat. The stamp of hooves, the howl of wolves, and the shrieks of birds resonated in her ears, cacophonous and distracting. It was the last march of beasts at the dawn of the rule of men. The disc of marble which made up the floor of the court, held in tightly curled branches, practically vibrated with uncounted ages of formationwork.

  The air was thin here. There was so little wind, but solar and lunar qi were thick here, so thick that even as she watched, motes of it congealed into the fluttering forms of faeries that drifted about providing light to the court.

  Then there was the tree itself. Stretching out in the sky beyond the court, immense branches supported a canopy of leaves that stretched for kilometers in every direction, penetrated by dappled beams of sunlight. There was power in the ancient bark that supported the platform, power in the sail-sized leaves that drifted down on the wind, and power in the immense branch which supported the Duchess’ throne. It was a quiet, steady, and patient power. It was power fit to endure the world’s ending.

  It was one thing to know that the tree Xiangmen had been here before the Sage, before the Diviner, and before even the meanest of recorded history.

  It was another to feel it.

  Ling Qi shook out the distractions from her thoughts as she followed Cai Renxiang down the central carpet which led upward to the Duchess’ throne sheltered in the curl of a single branch, so high above. She maintained a perfectly appropriate distance, five paces behind, no more and no less.

  She didn’t let herself meet any of the many gazes around her. Instead, she focused on the speech in her head, the one she had rehearsed with Renxiang in those early hours of the morning.

  But although she kept her eyes low, she could not help but fix her gaze on the throne. Cai Shenhua sat straight-backed in her throne, and around her burned a colorless sun. It was difficult to make out more than her silhouette.

  At her side was Prime Minister Linqin dressed in a resplendent rose pink gown. A circlet of roses adorned her wavy brown hair. Her hands were hidden in voluminous sleeves, and she looked down upon them with a cold and blank expression.

  At the base of the throne branch were arrayed warriors in shining and ornate plate armor. Plumes of blinding white rose from their helms, and their faces were hidden behind blank steel masks with only eye holes for features.

  One among them stood out, a slender woman as tall as Shenhua herself who stood in the direct center of the path leading up to the Duchess. In her hands, held point down to the floor, was a thin naked blade inscribed with etchings of herons in glittering diamond. Her helm lacked even holes for sight. Renxiang had coached her on the important faces. Heron General Xia Ren was the Duchess’ primary military commander and among her most loyal supporters.

  Ling Qi’s eyes strayed briefly to the sides. She marked out the representatives of each of the comital clans, the ambassador from the Empress, and a few other notables.

  Cai Renxiang knelt, Liming pooling around her feet, and Ling Qi followed her, lowering her head to almost touch the rich red carpet.

  “My daughter, I see that you bear the scars of war. Rumor swirls, and messengers fly, scattering tales of matters in the mountains.” Cai Shenhua spoke, and her voice was light and sensual, almost idle in tone, despite her posture. “I would have you provide me with a clear vision on events.”


  “Honored Mother, it pleases this dutiful daughter that I might be your eyes and ears in this matter,” Cai Renxiang said. Her voice rang clearly as she raised her head. She remained kneeling, but no longer in full kowtow. Nonetheless, the faint rasp in her voice was all too audible in the silence of the court.

  “On yesterday morn, we set out on a mission from the Sect, a punitive expedition against a barbarian gathering. Thought to be a trap, the Sect spun an ambush to entrap the enemies and slay those that were gathered there,” Cai Renxiang said, speaking with machine-like precision. “My retainer and I chose to join the initial assault in order to bring victory to the name of the Cai. She was chosen for the role of scout and spotter, and I was given to be the tip of the spear.”


  “It does not appear to have gone well,” Minister Linqin said evenly.

  “Baroness Ling performed most admirably in her role, reaching and observing the meeting without detection,” Cai Renxiang continued. “We discovered that it was a meeting between factions, discussing tribal alliance and attended by those allied with the underground beasts. They revealed a cache of potent material, known as starstone, as a token for alliance.”


  Cai Shenhua hummed to herself, and Renxiang immediately fell silent as the faint tap of a fingernail on wood echoed through the court. “How large, precisely, was this cache, Renxiang?”


  “Eight meters and thirty seven centimeters in diameter,” her liege answered immediately. Ling Qi wondered how she had been able to measure it so closely. “It was roughly spherical in shape.”


  The radiance above pulsed as whispers broke out throughout the court. The jewel-encrusted representative of the Bao stroked his beard, a glint of avarice in his eyes. The Luo representative’s hand tightened on the hilt of his blade, and he looked ready to spit. The Wang representative, who looked like a much older, much hairier Wang Chao, drew together bushy brows that threatened to devour his eyes. The Meng representative, a thin and willowy woman in heavy stylized makeup, merely pursed her lips. The Jia representative tugged nervously at his oiled beard.

  “I see. This asset was denied to them?” the Duchess asked.

  “The starstone itself was, thanks to the Baroness Ling,” Cai Renxiang said carefully. They had talked about this. In order for her words to have even a little weight with the court, she had to be talked up a bit.

  “Continue your recounting of events,” Cai Shenhua said flippantly, waving her hand.

  And Renxiang did. In great and precise detail, she described the events of the raid, including her own duel in the caldera, Ling Qi’s stand against the bulk of the barbarian forces, and the clash of elders. She described their escape and the coming of the thing in the south. She described the hatching of the starstone and the spirit within.

  By the time she was done, the atmosphere of the court had darkened, and there was much grumbling and whispers among the courtiers. Cai Shenhua raised her hand, silencing them all at a gesture.

  “It seems that you became involved in matters significantly above your head, my daughter,” the Duchess said. “It is good that you sustained only minor injuries.”


  Ling Qi saw a tiny bit of tension bleed out of her liege.

  “But your report is not done, is it?” the Duchess asked rhetorically, and Ling Qi had to work not to swallow nervously. “You have brought your retainer here today. I assume she has some important insight.”


  “Baroness Ling was able to observe certain events with far more clarity due to her role and position,” Renxiang said. “I thought it prudent to allow her to describe them herself.”


  “I see.” Cai Shenhua did not sound particularly approving or disapproving. Minister Linqin looked as if she was about to speak up, but she fell silent as a radiant hand clasped her own. It was a bizarrely intimate gesture given the setting. “You have not erred in your judgment thus far. Baroness Ling, you may raise your head and speak.”


  Ling Qi could hardly breathe as she straightened up. She scanned the crowd. Most seemed indifferent to her. They didn’t really expect anything from her, thinking the Duchess was merely indulging her daughter. A few eyed her with something more like interest or disdain, but it was only a few.

  Of the representatives, the Bao gave her an encouraging smile. The Wang representative seemed generally approving, though it was hard to read his face behind his beard and brows. The Luo and the Jia watched with disinterest. The Meng frowned at her but didn’t seem too hostile, actually.

  The ambassador from the Peaks, a man who reminded her of an older Kang Zihao, simply continued to observe in silence, his arms crossed over his chest.

  Ling Qi prepared herself and began to speak.