Chapter 15 #3
“No need. I’ve met the individuals you’re referring to. Hardly an ideal among them that’s not based on absolute power and dominion and crushing anything that flies in the face of their fanatic obsessions, so I know precisely how bad they are.”
His words caused Nili to stumble.
It was surprisingly easy for Alex to catch her and steady her back to her feet, even as her tremble grew.
Haunted eyes met Alex’s own. “Please, Alex. Be careful.”
“Always.”
This earned an arch look, even as Nili gracefully slipped free of Alex’s steadying grip. “Really?”
Alex chuckled. “Okay, that part’s a lie. How the hell am I going to ascend Peril’s golden steps if I’m cautious and prudent and trying to advance at anything like a sane pace?”
Nili gave him a look nearly identical to the one his mother used to give him as a boy after his genius plans somehow turned the kitchen into a disaster zone.
“Oh, there’s so much I could say to that, Alex Hammer.
But since your insane risk-taking is the only reason why my husband and I aren’t wearing slave collars right now, the only reason my sworn charge is safe, my daughter not in some man’s… ”
Her voice broke off as she rubbed the haunted look off her features, giving the softest of chuckles.
“All I can say is that your madness clearly works, no matter that your path would spell absolute disaster for anyone else. And here you are, just three days after charging headlong into the den of the deadliest Silver ever to slip past Wanshi’s walls…
and instead of being maimed, disemboweled, and left to die a hideous death like the handful of guards whose bodies we so recently found, you’ve emerged noticeably taller, your shoulders broader, radiating such deadly potency that no cultivator would dare take you for granted.
Not unless you actively work to hide it. ”
She frowned, gazing down at what he thought was a perfectly innocent walk. “And even with such a charming innocent mask worn over your aura, you’re still moving with a liquid grace that any warrior would envy, and we can only pray that alone won’t give your nature away.”
Alex frowned. “My arms don’t feel that much bigger, and my changshan tunic fits me just fine.”
This earned a snort. “I’m sure your magical clothing that the wind tossed into your hands the moment you lifted your arm before all our eyes fits you just fine, Alex. The problem is, I’m not sure my tailor will be able to alter the outfit I picked out for you in time.”
He shrugged. “So I just wear what I’ve always worn—”
“Alex, we’re going to be presented before the prince. I’d prefer that you not embarrass yourself or our group.”
“Good thing I’m never embarrassed.”
Nili gave him an arch look. “Another exaggeration? Because I know a dozen girls who would be eager to test that claim. Girls I am willing to devote quite a bit of resources to aiding, for the sake of a heroic ideal that’s brought inspiration to so many of our—”
“Fine! Let’s go to your bloody tailor. But if he sticks me full of pins, I won’t be happy.”
“It’s a she, Alex. And I expect you to obey the rules under a seamstress’s roof.”
“And that is?”
“Absolutely no talking. It’s a woman’s sanctuary, and women alone converse within.”
He blinked at that, trying to process what his friend had just said. “But that means… what if a guy doesn’t have, well…”
“Have you ever seen any unattached men strolling about casually without a mother, sister, aunt, daughter, wife, or betrothed in any desert city? One who wasn’t hurrying to or from his place of instruction or business as fast as he could?
Certainly not casually taking in the sights or at risk of catching any unmarried woman’s eye. ”
Alex frowned, realizing he actually wasn’t sure about that.
“But, Nili, I’ve never had a problem with—”
“Really? Are you sure about that? From what I recall, there was either a certain pretty Ruidian girl or a female cultivator friend by your side whenever I caught sight of you, limited as that was. Sometimes both. And besides, as far as our people are concerned, you’re Ruidian.
An entirely different culture, so allowances were made. ”
But before he could say anything to that, or inquire as to how, exactly, Nili’s former establishment received any customers at all...
they stopped before a well-maintained building free of any huts or add-ons as they approached the border between the merchants’ quarter and the marbled quarter that the well-to-do called home.
“Ah, here we are. Now keep your adorable lips shut, Alex. I will, of course, handle everything.”
And in surprisingly short order, Alex found his arms being carefully raised and lowered as an eagle-eyed seamstress with a dozen pins in her mouth draped him in fabric that was silky smooth, airy, and a strikingly brilliant shade of sea-foam blue.
Fortunately, the fitting wasn’t nearly as dull as Alex had feared.
He found the myriad bolts of beautifully patterned satin, silk, wool, hemp, and lace carefully placed in their hardwood racks quite soothing to look at, and he felt that he was now getting quite used to modifying his movements so as to blend in perfectly with everyone else.
The handsome woman in question, who definitely had a few intact meridians open, beamed with pleasure several moments later. “I believe we are done, my lady. And what a fine specimen you have brought before me!”
Nili’s features softened with a smile. “I quite agree, Mingi. Thank you again for working on such short notice.”
“Not at all, not at all, my lady. You know I always love a challenge. And it is so rare to find cultivators sporting the ancient bloodlines so strongly!”
Alex’s eyes widened at that, earning a smirk from Nili.
“Indeed it is. Ancient royal bloodlines thought lost in the cataclysm aren’t quite so alien to the desert cities as most would think.”
“And the boy could so easily pass for a Ruidian. Were he not radiating such monstrous potency, I’d think him just that! Will your guest be attending the college, my lady?”
Nili ignored Alex’s surprised blanch. “That remains to be seen, Mingi. Perhaps he will, at that.”
Shortly thereafter, a dazed Alex found himself wearing attire even he could admit would be worthy of any lord, gazing at Nili with something close to awe.
“How did she, and you, know about YanTu royalty?”
Nili flashed Alex an oddly pitying smile.
“Of course I do, Alex. I was a scholar once, and this is YanTu nation, after all. Believe it or not, history was my focus when I first entered Wanshi’s grand academy as a scholar’s daughter, years ago.
Don’t you dare ask me how many years, child, and no, no one knew of my mixed bloodlines. ”
Nili, now looking no older than Alex, no matter her years, stopped and sighed, gazing at the brilliant, starry night sky above them and the graceful marble-fronted buildings and perfectly placed date trees lining the wide streets of this part of the city, seeming completely oblivious to Alex’s shell-shocked stare.
It was all he could do not to stumble as so many anomalies snapped into place, his heart swelling with relief and desperate hope.
“Not that very much remains of our once great nation. Just these dying embers clinging to life in the endless desert that I sometimes fear the whole world has become,” Nili whispered, wiping away a tear as she gazed with fondness at the city, and the vast desert their elevated quarter of the city had such a glorious view of, even from the central boulevard.
Together, they silently took in the distant sandy horizons far beyond the caldera that served as a sanctuary for tens of thousands.
Just one of a handful of islands in an endless sea of desolation.
All that was left, it seemed, of the once great YanTu nation.
But still, a breathless Alex had to be sure. “So this isn’t…” He swallowed, heart hammering, having stumbled to a stop. “This isn’t ZhengTu Kingdom? This isn’t CuiJing Principality? I’m not responsible for destroying an entire…” He blinked away hot, stinging tears, too choked up to speak.
“So this isn’t my fault?” he whispered at last, like a child so terribly afraid that somehow he had lit the fire that had turned his family’s manor to ash… and burned everyone alive inside it.
Nili flashed Alex a smile so sympathetic it set his heart lurching painfully in his chest.
Nearly identical to the look his mother had given him when she’d first read the cold, dispassionate chart that had effectively been Alex’s death warrant. Stage 4 cancer. No repeals, re-rolls, or second chances.
“Of course you did, Alex. You, your wife and sister disciple, and the mad Fox that led you all against the ancient General so set on eliminating you madcap fools that our entire nation was destroyed.”
Her smile grew even more pitying when Alex stumbled to the ground, fighting not to hyperventilate as his fingers clawed the brownstone blocks at his feet so hard that stone cracked in his grip, a hoarse sob slipping free of his lips as his mind filled with visions of vast armies, crimson battlefields, and entire cities erupting in flame.
Flashes of a wild-eyed nemesis screaming his eternal hate.
Shui Jun’s face. Not that of a cold-eyed serpent, but the beautiful young woman she had once been.
Her Japanese features just as alien to these people as his own Scandinavian features had been.
And the uniform she had worn… He recognized that uniform, even as Shui Jun screamed and howled in pain and fury the equal of his own.
Death’s waters summoned in a nightmare of apocalyptic vengeance.
WiFu roaring with a fury Alex had never witnessed before in this life or any other as the entire world was ablaze.
“No… no, no, no!”
Alex’s howl was endless and eternal, suddenly flooded with the bitter fruit of so many faces mirroring his own. And not just his own. Countless generations of beloved offspring once savored by eternal parents, slaughtered to the last innocent child.