Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Leander was shocked, and he expected the police officer to react to such an overt threat, but he didn’t bat an eye.
Apparently, the magical community was allowed to kill each other.
That did not make Leander feel safe. “If Min cared for Heng, why didn’t she stay in the school with Heng?
” That part didn’t make sense, which made Leander suspect that he wasn’t understanding some cultural rule.
Auntie Daiyu clucked at him as if he were a particularly stupid child. Leander resented the gesture, but he couldn't deny that when it came to magical China, he felt clueless.
“Heng hopes for immortal ascension. That requires letting go of not only physical needs but emotional attachments. He never would have started a family with her. But she did not understand that. She believed that longing would bring him to her side once she left the school.”
Before this, Leander had thought the Chinese had avoided being poisoned by stories like Romeo and Juliet and the weird belief that love would overcome all. “You knew?” he asked Auntie Daiyu. “You knew that she felt that way?”
She shrugged. “I knew she was a foolish young woman who longed for a handsome man. I also knew that she was never going to have the husband or the children or a place in the Nie home she desired. But knowing all of that does not mean that I knew she would kill in pursuit of her ridiculous dream.”
“So did she kill the pill master?” While that was the most logical explanation, Leander had seen Druwolf frame enough people to distrust easy answers.
“Likely,” Auntie Daiyu said. “He was a cruel man, but not a stupid one. The moment he realized what poison had been used to try to kill you, he would have questioned her involvement. If the Nies ask their assassin to learn the truth, then we shall know. Assassins are rather well-trained at obtaining truths, but that would require an additional fee. They may simply want her dead.”
Leander blinked at the idea of the amiable Nie Xiaobo or the motherly Nie Huiling hiring an assassin to torture information out of someone.
It reminded Leander that people were rarely simple creatures.
No one shared their real feelings or showed their true motives, so he should not expect the Nies to be better than any other human on the planet.
“We’re leaving now,” Auntie Daiyu said. The police officer opened his mouth, likely to protest, but she stood and poked a finger in his direction, a very rude gesture which she followed up with a noise like one might make when scolding a dog.
“Lian has been held for three days, and you have benefited from his impressive control over magic. Most of those with his talents would have turned magic against you. But perhaps you do not understand how gracious he has been. Tell me, what magic user can control the essence of plants and animals?”
The officer’s eyes slowly widened and he swallowed as he looked at Leander. “Pill master?” he guessed.
Auntie Daiyu cackled again. “Exactly. Had he grown up with us instead of his abominable mother and her attachment to Western beliefs and laws, he would have known his rights. Since he is unaware of the customs that govern how magical and non-magical China interact, perhaps I shall feel it necessary to demand recompense.”
The officer lost most of the color from his face, and Leander stood and came around the table, putting a cautious hand on Auntie Daiyu’s shoulder.
“Auntie, my only concern is seeing Heng and making sure that he is safe before going home. I do not want to have anything to do with non-magical China or non-magical America or even magical America. I want to go home.” As much as he appreciated her attempt to defend him, he didn’t want to be held up to some standard he couldn’t match, like the magic of a pill master.
She sighed before turning her gaze toward him. Some of the gleeful malice had faded and she gave him a weary sigh. “You're not going to allow me to have any fun, are you?”
“I have a family to get home to,” Leander said.
He was terrified Shanlin was being guarded by people who did not understand the power Druwolf held.
This battle had been a victory, but Leander knew the war was still to be fought, and he needed to have Shanlin next to him where he could see that the boy was safe.
“Very well.” Auntie Daiyu sounded bored with all of it.
“Come. Nie Heng is far enough along in his cultivation that he should have healed himself already, and if not, I do know how to heal a body. I would be greatly amused if Nie Xiaobo drove all this way only to find that I had spirited his chicks back home before he could even get here. If I cannot take out my pettiness on the police, then I shall indulge by annoying him.”
Leander had no idea if that was part of her performance or whether she really was aggravated enough to mildly torture others, but when she left the room, he hurried to follow her.
He was not going to be the next person to annoy her.
Maybe she had lied to the police about him being a pill master, but she had magical powers far beyond his own, and right now she looked angry enough to use all of them to make him miserable if he slowed her down.
He had lived this long by not annoying powerful people, and he was not going to change now.