I laid a hand over the marks on his skin. Something in my chest gave.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
I blew gently on the worst of the wounds. It accomplished nothing, but it was all I had.
The gesture seemed to startle him. That simple, open face of his shifted — for just an instant, something flickered there. Surprise.
I ruffled his hair. "Xiao Limo. No more trouble tonight. Sister is tired. Let's rest."
Patience had never been among my strengths. I could not explain why it came so easily in his presence.
That night, a shape drifted through my dreams — blurred and half-formed, trailing a voice that would not quite resolve into words.
I'll take you home.
I'll take you home.
I strained to see his face. Nothing. Only white.
"Who are you?" I reached out, desperate — and the shadow crumbled, dissolved into mist.
* * *
Morning came, and Xiao Limo woke me up. Specifically, he woke me up by draping himself over my body and peering at what he had taken to calling my "hidden affliction."
My head throbbed. Every vein behind my eyes pulsed with indignation.
"You tormented me all night, and now you won't leave me alone in the morning either?"
He looked up the moment my eyes opened, and his filled with starlight. He pressed his lips together and wrapped both arms around me. "Sister, I'm sorry. Limo made you angry. Limo was only afraid..."
Somebody put me out of my misery.
That guileless expression again. I studied him more carefully and noticed the bruising beneath his eyes — dark crescents of sleeplessness. Surprise moved through me. "You didn't sleep last night?"
He shook his head, very carefully. His gaze was clear, untroubled. "Limo was worried about Sister."
I looked away, embarrassed. "Sister is... a woman. Different from you. Limo doesn't need to worry."
He wrestled visibly with this, then nodded — not quite understanding, but accepting it.
* * *
The man Da Qi had once known as Xiao Limo — the brilliant young general, cold and imperious — was a figure from legend now.
They said he'd been heartless. A girl from Minister Song's household once offered him her handkerchief in public; he not only refused, he reduced her to tears on the spot. She retreated to White Cloud Temple and took holy orders out of spite.
A young lady from the Shen household — mad for swordsmanship, a student of Lord Xiao's — had been so bewitched by Xiao Limo that she crept in to watch him bathe. He had her thrown out. Too shamed to show her face in Luoyang again, she climbed Mount Cangwu and joined the Changfeng Sect, never to return.
He had shoved his own cousin to the ground. He had beaten his younger brother Xiao Lifeng. He showed no mercy to those who served under him. His catalog of wrongs could fill a night's telling. A man of ruthless calculation, decisive in all things — no one who knew his name called him gentle.
I stared at Xiao Limo now. The warmth of that smile. The unguarded brightness of those eyes.
None of that man remained.
Strange how the world turns.
I pinched his cheeks between my fingers and addressed him with great authority. "Now listen. You have come to live in my residence. From this day forward, you will do exactly as I say. Understood?"
I surveyed the red marks my fingers left on his face. Satisfying. General or not, this man was mine to command.
"Xiao Limo, all those terrible things you did before — this is your punishment, isn't it? Standing here, gentle as a lamb." I clicked my tongue. "Sad, honestly."
He stiffened almost imperceptibly. Then the guileless smile returned, voice as soft as silk. "Sister. Limo is not bad."
Fine. I'm done arguing with you.
* * *
Xiao Limo was in the middle of shelling chestnuts for me when Hua Ling's wailing announced her arrival.
"Sister! My poor, poor Sister!"
I choked mid-bite. I jabbed a finger at Xiao Limo. "Water — get me—" Then I stopped myself. What was I thinking, counting on him?
To my surprise, Xiao Limo understood perfectly. He shuffled off and returned with a cup of warm water. Look at that. The child's grown up.
My younger sister Hua Ling swept into the residence in full flower, circled me twice, and grabbed my face between her palms. "Let me look at you. Sister, are you alright?"
"I got married," I said, still swallowing. "I didn't die."
If Hua Ling weren't my blood sister, I would have had her thrown out on principle.
She gave me a look full of heavy, knowing sympathy. "Sister, this is a fate worse than death. Father has a heart of stone, making you marry this idiot."
I clapped my hand over Xiao Limo's ear before the word could land. "He's pitiable enough as it is," I hissed at her.
Hua Ling's gaze slid to Xiao Limo with naked displeasure. "And my Sister isn't pitiable?"
I was. I absolutely was.
"Sister," Hua Ling said, slapping the table with great authority, "you should take yourself a few male companions. Find some joy in hardship. Anything's better than sitting here with an id— with Xiao Limo."
I had to admit the logic held.
I glanced at Xiao Limo. "Why don't you step out for a bit?"
"No," he said at once. "I'm staying with Sister."
Hua Ling rounded on him. "She's my sister, not yours."
Xiao Limo had a full head of height on her. He looked down at her with serene superiority. "She said so herself — she is my Sister."
Hua Ling shoved him. Hard. He went down.
"You stupid idiot — competing with me for my own sister!"
Xiao Limo hit the floor and immediately began to wail at full volume. "You bad person! I don't want to see you! You pushed me! Bad person!"
Hua Ling stood frozen for exactly one heartbeat. Then she burst into tears louder than his. "You called me a bad person! How dare you call me that!"
Oh gods.
I walked out of the room with the serenity of a woman who had made peace with her circumstances. Two children fighting — this was beyond the intervention of ordinary mortals.
* * *
Hua Ling came to find me in my room afterward, still sulking and looking for someone to blame.
"Xiao Limo was awful to me. Why didn't you take my side?"
I was reading with an expression of perfect composure. "Hua Ling, you are not twelve years old anymore. Xiao Limo has the mind of a child under ten. How are you still picking fights with him?"
She studied me for a long moment, perhaps recognizing her fault. I was just drawing breath to impart some older-sister wisdom—
"Sister," she said, "your book is upside down."
I tapped her on the head. "Is that really what you should be paying attention to? Put your energy toward something worthwhile."
"Sister, when did I ever have anything worthwhile to do?"
This one. What were we going to do with her?
"Well, you were just going on about male companions, weren't you?"
Her eyes lit up with a complicated gleam. "Actually — Father received the top imperial scholar recently. A certain Chen Yunshu. Quite the sight, by all accounts."
Father detested scholars. I tilted my head. "You've seen him?"
Hua Ling drew a long, theatrical breath to maximize suspense. "No."
"Hua Ling, one of these days someone is going to hit you for that."
Before I could press further, a familiar figure crashed through the door.
Xiao Limo's smile was genuinely lovely. The soft way he called "Sister" was genuinely pleasant to hear.
Hua Ling glared at him. "Hmph!" She swiveled back to me. "Sister, I'm going back to the palace. I'll visit again next time."
"Can you just not come?" Xiao Limo muttered.
He really is sort of charming, isn't he.
Hua Ling snapped back into battle mode. "I will come. I'll move in."
"Alright, alright," I cut in quickly. "Hua Ling, go on home for now. Next time Sister will come to the palace to get you personally."
She left with the gait of a general who had won.