“Ah. So, the bandages are more a precaution right now.”
“Yes,” Gen answered simply.
“You’ll need us soon, won’t you?” Bai inquired. “For Zaffi, I mean.”
“Soon, yes. But it seems you’ll be healed by the time we start that. I hope to do so later next week, as we’ll have time to get all of the right people in place. We’ve got a group there now trying to manage things until we can all arrive. In the meantime, Shun and I will head down to deal with Ghost General’s Sword, then come back up. You’ll rendezvous with us at Zaffi.”
“Oh, that needs to be dealt with too?”
“Unfortunately.”
Gen’s expression was filled with curiosity as he looked her over, as if seeing her for the first time. “Master Shunlei was just telling us…you’re his wife?”
“I am.” Mei Li had gotten this exact reaction in the past. She was used to it after ten years. Well, perhaps not this precise reaction. Before, people were befuddled that she would marry a dragon.
Now, they were reacting because she was the wife of the Master of All Dragons. Slightly different take on things, that.
She joined them, taking a cushion and relaxing against it, her knee overlapping with her husband’s. It was nice to just sit and talk for a while, honestly, after the madness she had just lived through.
“Not that I married the Master of All Dragons, really. I knew he’d become that eventually, but the man I faced back in the past was this reckless redhead—”
Shunlei snorted at the description, eyes crinkling up in amusement.
“—who had this insane idea about battling the dragons into being nice, and somehow managed it despite being only thirty years old. I had to remind myself, repeatedly, that he did live and survive into the future. And even with that sure knowledge, he still almost gave me heart failure on numerous occasions with the stunts he pulled.”
“Calculated risks,” Shunlei retorted, but that laughter still shone in his eyes.
Her eyes cut to him. “And what do you call that nonsense with the twin white bone demonesses that wanted to first have sex, then eat you?”
“I did say no,” he pointed out.
“Sure, after you lured them in closer. You didn’t fare that well with the first white demoness you battled, and then you chose to take on two at once.” In a commiserating tone, she focused on her wide-eyed listeners. “This calm expression you see? Total act. He’s reckless, he thinks pulling pranks is funny, and he’ll pull your leg with a completely straight face all while he’s howling laughing on the inside. He was more obvious about it as a Red. He’s just learned how to be sneaky over the years. He hasn’t changed.”
Shunlei just shrugged.
“See? No denial.”
A slow grin took over Bai’s mouth. “You have really good stories on him, don’t you?”
“Ten years’ worth. And I will be happy to tell them all.”
Shunlei let out a thrum of objection. “Now wait, wife, let’s not be so hasty.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I warned you that I would get even for all those cryptic little comments you teased me with. You will get no mercy from me, mister.”
He didn’t look nearly as dismayed as he should have. But Shunlei’s delight in having her back was like a magical ward, it was so thick. Nothing else seemed able to penetrate it.
“What if I abjectly apologize?”
“Nope.” This was fun, this turning of the tables. Mei Li rubbed her hands together with anticipation. “Now, where should I start? There’s just so many juicy choices, it’s hard to decide.”
Bai seemed game for this teasing. “How about the beginning?”
“Oh, the beginning. Excellent place.”
Dinner came and went. Stories were told, Bai both ended up on the floor laughing several times, and Mei Li was not oblivious to the crowd that wandered in, curious about these stories of Shunlei the Red. Shunlei didn’t just tolerate this—he added details, rebuked, objected, and laughed along with her at the memories.
But to him, this wasn’t something that had happened just a short time ago. It was eons, and she could see the memory of the events they’d lived through coming back to him, fresh and almost new. Mei Li had told the stories mostly to entertain the bored and stuck dragons, and to help them reconcile the idea of her being Shunlei’s wife. But now she was glad she had done it for an entirely different reason. Shunlei had needed it, too, this walk down memory lane. A reconnection of a time he remembered fondly to the present.
They both did, really. Her heart still grieved for old friends she would never see again. Only Shunlei remembered them, and sharing stories about the past helped them both. A remembrance. For all that they had fought alongside each other for many years, Shunlei had also spent millennia fighting without her. He’d lost so many friends—through either battle or old age—and yet he steadfastly supported the Tomes.
No matter how his heart might break, he wouldn’t abandon the world.
It gave her faith. Mei Li could do the same, stand stalwart once more in this present time, even if a part of her was still in the past. There was still so much to be done. And for those who’d fought Odom and Zaffi with her before—the ones she’d lost and the ones who had lived—she couldn’t let either demon loose. She’d never be able to face her old friends if she did.
Shunlei thought the same. He must have, to have continued to fight without her for five thousand years. Mei Li would never be able to fully understand what he’d lived through while waiting on her. The pain, the loneliness, the heartbreak that came with that. Intellectually, yes, but never fully. But she hadn’t lived through it, had no experience that came close to it. All she could understand was what she saw on her husband’s face, knowing how he’d reacted when she’d burst onto the scene once more.
And that, frankly, was enough. Mei Li had promised herself over the past ten years that when she reunited with Shunlei again in the future, she wouldn’t leave his side. And that sounded like an empty promise, human that she was. But she hadn’t spent ten years in the past learning just about major demons. She’d taken the opportunity to learn about spells lost—or sealed away.
One in particular would do quite nicely.
The evening was late, and she felt she might be tired enough to sleep now. Mei Li leaned into Shunlei’s side and murmured, “We should retire, if we’re to leave early in the morning.”
“Hmm, yes.” Lifting his head, he told the room generally, “We’ll be departing for Summer Winds Temple in the morning to deal with Ghost General’s sword. We’ll meet you at Zaffi in six or seven days, I think. Assuming all goes well. Rest while we’re gone, and we’ll come back to deal with Odom and Zaffi.”
There was murmured assent, some nods, but most looked tired and ready to sleep, and they weren’t inclined to disagree with this course of action. Shunlei stood to help situate Gen for bed, as the dragon took more careful maneuvering in this large room than the others. Mei Li turned for the door, intending to do some rearranging of their bags to make the flight tomorrow easier before she retired.
And maybe have her wicked way with her husband again, just to put a smile on both their faces before bed.
A smile of anticipation lit her face, but it fell a little when she saw Rone waiting for her by the door. With the sun having set, she was almost indistinguishable from the evening sky, her dark purple hair and skin blending right in. The look on the woman’s face was not entirely pleased. Oh, now what? The uncharitable thought flitted through her head even as Mei Li steeled herself to deal with it, whatever it was.
“A word,” Rone commanded.
This sounded personal more than job-related. Oh. Hmm. Which could be any number of things, really, as Mei Li had done several things recently the older woman didn’t agree with.
“Alright.”
Rone led her out of the room and outside, into the cooler night air, where the stars were brilliant in the inky, dark sky. It was crisp ou
t here, the wind bordering on cold as it whipped around them once before settling again. Mei Li wrapped her jacket around herself to ward off the chill even as she faced Rone head on.
Which, truly, felt odd to Mei Li. It was like coming across a friend she hadn’t spoken to or seen in years. She no longer felt like she had that strong connection to the Elder dragon. Which wasn’t the case on the opposite side—Rone had only missed her for three days. But Mei Li was unsure of her footing before the woman could even open her mouth.
Rone’s expression was half-masked by darkness, the only illumination coming from the lit windows. Still, there was a hard edge to her jaw that was unmistakable. And the light in her golden eyes was one of challenge.
“When we first met, I mentioned to you once how much I hated Shunlei’s wife. For what she did to him.”
Ah. So she had. Mei Li, with her excellent memory, recalled it perfectly. And winced, because mercy, she didn’t think she could so soundly put herself on Rone’s bad side.
“You did. You hated her—rather, me—because I left him alone. And because I knew with my humanity that I would do that, with no hope of him recovering enough to marry again.”
“And still, knowing all of that, you did it anyway? Mei Li, he will still outlive you—”
Mei Li cut her off, already exasperated with being treated like an idiot. A self-absorbed one, no less. “Rone, for mercy’s sakes, you really think that I would exchange vows with him only to break his heart twice?”
Rone blinked, taken slightly aback. “You were willing to do it once.”
“I actually wasn’t.”
The memory of that moment, the guilt she still felt, roughened her words. She had to pause, collect herself, shove the emotions back down so that her throat didn’t tighten around them.
“I argued with him when he proposed. Told him this wouldn’t end well, that he really had to rethink it. It was too late by that point for him—his heart was committed. And I realized, eventually, that I was his wife. The die had already been cast on that. I couldn’t change the way the past would go—although, trust me, I would have if I’d found a way to manage it.” Leaning into the woman’s space, she said emphatically, “But I will alter the course of the future. I will not leave him alone again.”
Rone’s dark purple brows beetled in obvious puzzlement. “How can you possibly promise that? In fifty, sixty years you’ll be dead. That time is nothing to a dragon. You can’t change when you’ll die, Mei Li.”
Mei Li just looked at her.
Incredulously, Rone demanded, “You CAN?”
“I had a decade to figure out a way to stay with him. I got my answer five years ago.” Mei Li canted her head a little. “It’s not something I can enact right away; it will take quite a bit of prep on my part. And Shunlei’s complete cooperation. Which, I don’t think he’ll argue with me about this.”
Rone spluttered some more, eyes as wide as saucers.
“Don’t say anything to anyone else,” Mei Li warned. “The spell was banned and sealed. There’s only one or two records that even hint that it existed in the first place. I had to do some serious research to find it even in the past. If anyone knew I was planning this, they would stop me.”
Recognition flashed in her golden eyes. “But I won’t stop you. You know that.”
“Because your priority is him. You’d do anything to protect Shunlei, and on that one point, we are in complete agreement. Knowing what will happen to him if I die, you’ll be the first to help me in this.”
Mei Li was absolutely confident of that. And still, she was relieved when Rone immediately nodded in firm agreement.
“Yes,” she said, and that word alone was stout enough to build castles on. “Yes, I will help you with whatever you need. Just don’t get yourself killed before we can do this. I don’t know what the fallout will be if he loses you a second time. But I don’t think the world would survive it.”
Mei Li grimaced. She couldn’t exactly disagree. “I’ll take every precaution. Thank you, Rone.”
“Don’t thank me.” Rone passed a hand over her face. “I’m still of two minds on this. But at least you came back to him. I hate you a little less for that.”
And what could Mei Li say to that?
They flew south in hopes of briefly stopping in and checking on the group dealing with Zaffi. Mei Li didn’t think it was nice to make them break their brains against a problem she now had a solution for, but no one there knew she was back yet. The goal was to stop in, see how everyone was doing, promise to come back in about a week to help them seal Zaffi, then fly on toward Summer Winds Temple. That, and give them direction on how to prep for Zaffi so that some of the work would be done before she returned to them.
Mei Li had almost forgotten they had been tramping about in winter. Early spring was still a hope unrealized, and the wind had a bitter chill to it as they flew south. She had three warming charms on her, and two attached to Shunlei to help him stay warm as they went. It was a peaceful flight through the mountains, not a cloud in the sky, so at least there was no worry about a storm hovering on the horizon.
She may have catnapped at one point inside her box.
Well, it was mostly warm inside, and she was bored, and still a little tired from her abrupt return to the present, so what else was she supposed to do?
“Mei.”
Popping open the top, she put her head closer to the front to answer. “Yes?”
“I caught snatches of it last night. Rone’s upset with you?”
“Ah. Sort of? She’s always harbored a hatred of your wife, you know.”
He snorted, the sound accompanied by a hint of warm air. “Yes, I know.”
“And she was happy to actually confront me about my choices. Not that I could be solely blamed for those, which I pointed out. Anyway, we mostly reconciled. I think.”
He rumbled, the sound thoughtful. “I think she might be confused about her own emotions, too. She likes you. She’s made that obvious enough. Being confronted with the fact that the woman she likes and considers a friend is the same woman she’s held a grudge against for centuries must be confusing.”
Now there was food for thought. Mei Li hadn’t really considered it from that angle, but he was correct. She really should have thought of that.
“I find myself curious. What did you say to settle her down?”
Mei Li almost blurted it out without a second thought, then realized this was a conversation they really should have face to face. She’d not found a good private moment to speak with Shunlei about this yet, and it should happen sooner rather than later.
“Um. We should probably set down and talk about that.”
His head turned enough that he could peer at her with one eye. “Wife. Why do I get the feeling you’re plotting something with Rone?”
“Because you are wise in your old age?”
That clear blue eye narrowed with suspicion. “Am I going to like this?”
“You’re probably going to be overjoyed by it,” she answered honestly. “But it is something we really need to talk about. It’s nearly lunchtime. How about we set down, eat our rice balls, and talk it through?”
“There’s no good place to set down for another hour, though.”
“The suspense will not kill you. I promise.”
He sighed, gustily. It was not a patient sound.
“Weren’t you supposed to grow out of your impatient stage once you cleared Red? You’re Black now, you’re supposed to be the epitome of patience.”
“Somehow, being around you has rejuvenated my youth.”
“Oh, is that what you’re going with?” She grinned at him, enjoying the teasing.
“If there weren’t snow and trees everywhere, I’d set down right this second,” he grumbled to the air. His great head turned, cocking this way and that as he panned the area. “You’re a terrible tease. I don’t know why I married you.”
“Maybe you’re a glutton for punishment. I don
’t know what else to tell you.”
“You’re one to talk. Ah. There!”
“Don’t take us off course just to talk to me,” she objected, even as he banked hard to the right.
“Too late.”
“Too late, my left eyeball.” Even as Mei Li grumbled, she quickly tied the flaps back down before his wild flying could throw her out altogether.
Really, it was a wonder he’d held things together while she was still ignorant of their connection. Look at the way he acted now, so quick to jump into things. He’d been the soul of discretion and patience before she’d gone into the past. Now, it was like he couldn’t do things fast enough. She had to wonder at the difference. Had he forced himself to be patient while waiting on her return? Was that it? And now he had no more patience left?
The wind rushed past them as he descended sharply, and they were on the ground before she could form another objection. Sighing, she gave up and retrieved their packed lunch before opening the flaps and flipping back out and onto the ground. As soon as she was clear, he switched forms as well, shedding the harness in a practiced move.
It was a nice clearing, surrounded by pine trees on all sides, with a thin layer of snow on everything. A picturesque place indeed, and barely warm enough for a trickle of water to be heard from somewhere beyond the tree line. Mei Li looked about, spotted a fallen log resting nearby, and headed for it. With the protection of her cloak, she could safely sit there without becoming too damp or cold.
Setting the lunch bag down, she turned to Shunlei, who clearly would not be put off. Mei Li hadn’t meant to pique his curiosity so much, but apparently she’d hit some inner switch with unerring accuracy.
“I know Rone,” he said without preamble. “And I know you. If the two of you made peace that quickly, you must have promised her something. And there were times in the past when you were working on something, something you didn’t want to explain to me properly. I think you’ve been planning something for a while, and you told Rone, which is why she was so quick to forgive you.”
Master of Tomes Page 4