Book 8: Chapter 35: Uncomfortable Truth

Book 8: Chapter 35: Uncomfortable Truth

Sen stretched and looked out the window. Even in the pre-dawn light, he could see Golden Phoenix Sect members out and about. Some were clearly cultivating, others were training martial forms, and he even saw a few groups that appeared to be heading out on missions of one kind or another. It was all so orderly. He wondered if things would ever look this orderly back at the Deep Wilds Academy. Sen knew that it was going to be a sect, but he just hated the very thought of openly calling it a sect, even in his own head. Maybe I just won’t, he thought. I can keep calling it an academy if I want to. The more he thought about that idea, the better he liked it.

“Leaving already,” said a wistful voice from behind him.

He turned and, well, he supposed the right word for it was beheld Lai Dongmei. She was stretched out on the blankets to display her body to maximum advantage. Sen’s self-control was nothing to be sneered at, but he wasn’t going to lie himself. He was tempted. The only thing that marred the image was the shattered remains of what had been the bed’s frame.

“We broke your bed,” he observed, not sure if he ought to feel bad about it or not.

“Yes, we did,” said Lai Dongmei.

She was clearly not bothered by that at all. If anything, she looked quite satisfied by that turn of events.

“Maybe you should have had it reinforced with qi. I mean, you are sect matriarch and all.”

She let out a throaty laugh that did all sorts of subtle but nonetheless interesting things to the rest of her body.

“It was,” she told him. “I’m sure it will start all manner of interesting rumors when I have it very obviously removed.”

“You mean, the six people in this sect who don’t already pray daily for my death will join that cult.”

“Quite probably,” said Lai Dongmei without the slightest contrition in her voice.

“Thanks so much for that,” said Sen with an eye-roll.

“You can always come back to what’s left of the bed and delay the inevitable,” she said as she traced a finger down her body.

It had the intended effect of drawing his eyes to the woman’s very available, very desirable flesh. A primal hunger inside of him roared with need. Sen had to keep that part of himself buried most of the time. The number of people he could share a bed with and not put them at unacceptable risk was constantly shrinking. So, he’d learned to keep those kinds of thoughts and impulses on a very short leash. Now, though, there was someone who would suffer no additional danger if he chose to indulge with her. Spending the night with Lai Dongmei had not come close to sating him. All things being equal, he would do exactly as she wished. But all things were not equal. Sure, the ridiculous political event was over, but he still needed to stabilize the House of Lu. At least, he needed to get it stable enough that he could go home and see Ai. He had promised to come back as soon as he could.

“Don’t think for a second that I don’t want to,” said Sen, shoving his lust into a box and mostly closing it in. “But the House of Lu isn’t like your sect, yet. I can’t expect it to keep running without me if I up and disappear for a month.”

Lai Dongmei’s eyes half closed when she said, “A month.”

Sen could not tell what it was in her voice when she said those two innocuous words, but it connected with something inside of him that started screaming at him to get back into the broken bed right that second. Sen narrowed his eyes at the woman.

“That was just mean.”

“Not mean enough, apparently, since it didn’t work.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” he said.

“That’s good to know. The other thing to discuss is just how you plan to run this new house of yours.”

“Who ever said I was going to run it?” asked Sen with a smirk. “I’m just keeping the place limping along until someone vastly more qualified than me arrives.”

“Who?”

“My grandmother.”

Lai Dongmei hesitated before she said, “I thought you were an orphan.”

“Oh, I was. You can think of her as my grandmother in spirit. She’s an interesting woman. I think you’d like her.”

“Why is that?”

“She’s very practical.”

“That’s not much to go on,” complained Lai Dongmei, pouting in a way that Sen was certain was intended to look just as fetching as it did.

“You’ll just have to meet her. Then, you’ll understand.”

“You plan to introduce me to your grandmother? How bold.”

Sen straightened a little as it occurred to him what that could imply. Lai Dongmei waited until the realization was truly sinking in before she laughed.

“Don’t worry. I’m not looking for a husband. Not here, at any rate. Although, after we’ve both ascended, well, that might be a conversation worth revisiting. I expect that by the time I catch up with you there, you’ll have seasoned a bit.”

Sen’s mind blanked out on him for a moment. He’d never considered marriage, not to anyone. He’d wondered about it a few times like he imagined everyone did, but it never felt like a real possibility to him. He was constantly outpacing everyone around him, which even he’d recognized effectively closed those kinds of doors on a romantic level. Granted, other people had needed to point out that the same thing applied to friends, but he’d also never thought beyond ascension. Things would be different there, wouldn’t they? At the very least, he probably wouldn’t be racing through advancement after advancement. He was sure there would be threats, but those threats wouldn’t constantly be growing in strength the way they were now. It could be a real possibility. Then, he frowned.

“Catch up? You think I’m going to ascend first?”

“I’m quite certain of it. The speed of your growth is beyond fast. It’s utterly unprecedented. It's almost a foregone conclusion that you'll ascend first. Although, I do have to wonder at why that was the first thing you reacted to,” she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, right,” said Sen, his face flushing. “Well, I mean, yes, that probably would be a conversation worth revisiting if and when the day comes.”