Vows of Gold and Laughter (The Immortal Beings Book 1)

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Vows of Gold and Laughter (The Immortal Beings Book 1) Page 4

by Edith Pawlicki


  Well, I need to confirm this is the man, Nanami told herself. But even she knew that wasn’t the real reason she said yes.

  THE woman’s focus on him was so intense, it burst through Xiao’s alcohol induced euphoria. He felt the disappointment of the crowd as he left with her, and though he hated to let anyone down, he just couldn’t resist.

  Between her not quite articulated desire, her repressed sexuality, and her hunger for affection, she had responded to him on a deep level.

  As they strolled through Haraa’s wild gardens, Xiao studied her. She was shorter even than Jin, probably a foot shorter than Xiao himself. She was quite slender; the bun at her nape drew attention to the slimness of her neck. But she didn’t seem delicate. Instead she moved with a deft grace that suggested martial prowess. Her hair just brushed her shoulders – far shorter than Jin’s hair, which touched the ground unbound, and only half the length of Xiao’s. It was a blue so deep as to be mistaken for black. Her loose bangs very nicely framed a round face with dark narrow eyes that constantly scanned their surroundings. Xiao suspected there was very little they missed. Overall, even if she wasn’t a rare beauty like Jin, Xiao found her interesting and appealing, and his favorite feature was her full lower lip, which she was currently teasing with small white teeth.

  When they were out of earshot of the crowd, Xiao finally asked, “So what aren’t you interested in?”

  She looked at him suspiciously, so he gave her his most innocent smile.

  “I’m not – those women told me – no sex.” Xiao could just make out a flush on her tanned cheeks and neck – he wouldn’t have minded seeing where else it reached.

  Aloud he said, “I didn’t offer – yet. And you needn’t worry – I only offer if it’s welcome.”

  The woman snorted. “And like every man, I suppose you think you can tell?”

  “Not like every man,” he countered, “but yes, I can tell.” His sensitivity was both burden and blessing.

  She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Xiao liked that too – Jin would never do something so inelegant.

  “Might I ask your name?” he said mildly.

  “Call me Nana,” she said after a moment. Then, unexpectedly, “Are you celebrating anything in particular?”

  “Indeed – the last days of my freedom. My parents have arranged a betrothal for me.” And he should be celebrating, despite his doubts. Besides being beautiful, Jin was the person to whom he was the closest, and she was also extremely nice. Maybe too nice. She would run herself ragged over an idle remark.

  “You don’t love her, then?”

  Xiao took in Nana’s calculating eyes and grinned. “I don’t want to talk about my betrothed – let’s talk about you.”

  She stepped back. “No, thank you – you should return to your alcohol. That crowd will soon have it empty.”

  “Not at all,” he reassured her. “It never empties – perhaps I could offer you some?”

  She snorted. “I’m even less interested in your alcohol than I am in you.”

  That wouldn’t be hard, Xiao thought, as you are very, very interested in me. But as long as she continued to deny her needs, her urges... well, there wasn’t anything for him to do.

  He watched her walk away though. It was a pity she didn’t want his expertise. He never understood why people were ashamed of their sexuality.

  After she was out of sight, he returned to the Infinite Jug and drank straight from the spigot as his “friends” cheered.

  ALMOST no light found Nanami stretched out on the upper branch of the giant gingko tree. She was more than twenty feet above the ground, her feet braced against the trunk, toes clutching the thick ridges of bark through her cotton soles, and her hands were wrapped around the branch beneath her, carefully placed so as to not damage the new spring leaves. Her kimono had been returned to its original state, adding a little bit of Mos Lake to the pond where Xiao had wrestled, and she was once again in her streaky gray wrap-around shirt and loose trousers, bound tight at the waist and at her calves, cloth boots with a split toe, and a large kerchief that hid all of her face but her eyes. She was all but invisible in the dark of the night.

  The gingko was fortuitously placed. When she turned her head to the left, she could see straight into the pavilion’s third floor, which Xiao had taken as his bedroom. The room was plain. Branch lattices had green leaves stretched almost to transparency across them. The only furniture was a single low table that had been shoved into a corner. Every day, when he retired for the night, Xiao dragged the Infinite Jug in behind him and set it on that table, as it was now. The rest of the room was a swirl of silks and pillows that provided the perfect setting for Xiao’s orgies.

  And orgies he had. As Nanami’s guide had claimed, Xiao was willing to partner anyone who asked, and he seemingly had no boundaries. Although Nanami’s spying was intended purely for practical reconnaissance, over the past three nights, it had taken on voyeuristic overtones, like watching the pictures from a pillow book come to life.

  It was as if Nanami had fallen through a trapdoor in her own mind into a secret room that had safely contained her sexuality until now. She felt ignorant and awkward – puberty all over again. How is it that I still don’t know myself?

  She had made a choice, so many years ago, to be detached from romance, from physical desire. She had always despised her parents for their blatant displays of affection; she had been contemptuous of the courtiers who had allowed themselves to be humiliated for the sake of “love.” She had her one uncomfortable and unpleasant experience that had confirmed all her biases about sex. So why now, against her better judgment, against her own inclination, did she now feel such a keen yearning for something she had never needed before? Last night she had, in a moment of frustration and weakness, heeded that farmer’s advice and prayed to the God of Pleasure, asking his aid in navigating this previously closed room of her own psyche.

  It was all Xiao’s fault.

  His appeal, Nanami had realized, was in his total dedication to his companion’s delight. A generosity of self that was too extreme, both frightening and alluring to Nanami. She supposed that sex must be another of this man’s addictions – for as her client had said, he was indeed an alcoholic, living in a state of inebriation. And the only power that Nanami had seen was his improbable ability to continue his sexual exploits through it. Today he had four guests, all of whom seemed equally pleased to be present.

  If you wanted, you could join them, a little voice whispered. Frustrated with herself, Nanami turned her face away from the escapades in the room. She continued to listen closely though, rationalizing that she needed to know when they fell asleep – she had determined that she had a solid hour once they all passed out to get in and extract the jar.

  After a few hours, no more laughter or whispers came from the room, and Nanami looked back. A lamp was burning dimly, allowing her to see that everyone indeed appeared to be asleep. There’s no reason to wait another day, Nanami admitted to herself. Everything had been very predictable, boring even, given that she had abstained from drinking.

  Nanami rose and began to run down the branch – it bent beneath her footfalls, but she moved so quickly, that it hardly affected her. A flying leap and she was holding the windowsill.

  Nanami pulled herself up and into the window, careful to keep noise to a minimum. Though, having witnessed their drinking all day, she was sure the five sleepers would not easily rouse.

  She picked her way around the sleepers to the Infinite Jug, setting each foot down slowly as to not send tremors through the mats. She took the pouch of nishikai powder from inside her shirt and extracted a pinch. She flung it at the jug and willed it to be smaller.

  The jug immediately began to shrink. By the time Nanami had replaced the nishikai powder in her shirt, the jug was no bigger than her fist. Nanami picked it up and examined it. She felt irrationally disappointed – she was not ready for this job to be done.


  “That’s not what you really want.” Nanami’s head jerked up and she found Xiao watching her. He was alone amid the sumptuous silks, smiling in invitation. Nanami’s brow knitted.

  “They were an illusion,” he said apologetically.

  But illusions didn’t usually affect her – an inheritance from her father that couldn’t be lost even if he disowned her. If this man had influenced her senses, he had far more power than the run-of-the-mill god.

  Nanami slipped the Jug into her shirt and shifted onto the balls of her feet.

  His lush lips quirked upward, revealing his dimples. “You’re so beautiful.”

  Stunned, Nanami touched her face, but no, her kerchief still covered all but her eyes. She was immediately irritated with herself for checking – for a moment she had been unreasonably pleased by the compliment, but he was just a confused drunk.

  “Not because of your face,” he went on, as if he heard her thoughts, “it’s you. The economy of your movements, the surety in your steps – it’s almost as if you’re dancing. You know exactly how to move, and you embody grace. Your competence is your beauty.”

  Throughout her childhood, she had believed herself plain – and compared to the potent, fulsome beauties of her father’s court, her soft prettiness had indeed seemed unremarkable. Her eyes were even and narrow, slightly hooded, and dark as the deepest ocean. Her navy hair was thin with a slight wave, and did not work well with elaborate court styles, but now that she wore long bangs and tied it half up, it flattered her round face. She had a thin, straight nose, and small lips, the bottom just slightly plumper than the top. But Xiao, the drunk who supposedly had no particular skills, shook her with his insight. Her appeal came from her inner confidence. It was only after she left her father’s court that she had learned who she was, and how to like that person, and so became pretty.

  Nanami prepared to run, but Xiao said, “Don’t move,” and she was caught like a fly in honey.

  “How?” she gasped. “How did you know I was watching? How did you cast an illusion? How do you hold me now?”

  He blinked. “Because you want me. You prayed to me, worshipped me, gave me power over you.”

  “What! Of course I didn’t!”

  He rose and cocked his head. “Don’t you know who I am?”

  “Xiao!”

  He started laughing. “The person who sent you after the Jug really didn’t tell you?”

  “He said you had no power that need concern me! It was the truth.” Xiao walked close to her, steadier than she expected.

  “Perhaps it was, before you yearned for me. I am Laughter in the Shadows. God of Pleasure.” He laid a hand against her face. Nanami leaned into its warm strength and closed her eyes. She should be mortified, and yet he was right. She did want him. Badly.

  His other hand snaked around her back and pulled her against him. Nanami leaned in, embracing physical desire for the first time in her life. The hand cradling her head jerked down the scarf covering her mouth, and then his lips brushed hers. She whimpered. His hand traveled down, caressing the side of her ribs, her waist, her hip. His mouth burned a trail of kisses to her ear, which he suckled gently. She gasped, her lips parting.

  And then, when she had lost her focus and was wholly in his power, he made two mistakes. One, he returned his mouth to hers and thrust his tongue deep, sharing with her the bitter taste of cheap wine. Two, his hand slipped into her shirt and wrapped around the shrunken Infinite Jug.

  Fury and disappointment broke his spell. Nanami wrapped her right hand in his hair, spreading a few grains of nishikai powder that had clung to her fingers into it.

  She willed him to shrink.

  “What–” He tried to pull away from her, but she was holding him tightly.

  “Let go of me,” he commanded.

  Nanami smiled bitterly. “You can’t control me anymore – your alcoholism killed my desire for you.” When he was no taller than her palm, she stuffed him into a very special white silk bag that was tied to her essence so that only she could remove whatever was inside.

  “Grooms should be sober for their betrothals,” she told the writhing bag. “I’m going to make sure you arrive that way.”

  TWO nights after his kidnapping, Xiao was still shrunken, smaller than his own hand ought to be. His captor had trapped him under a rough bamboo cage that he could have crushed, had he been full-size. He hadn’t tried to teleport away yet because one, he didn’t have nishikai powder of his own, two, he didn’t intend to leave until he had a route to revenge, and three, because he was feeling terrible.

  Yesterday he’d vomited several times (alcohol withdrawal, Nanami had smugly informed him, as if he didn’t know), and the consequent reek didn’t help his headache. He secretly had been a little alarmed that his body had reacted so strongly to a lack of alcohol. He knew, of course, that too much alcohol poisoned mortals, but it rarely impacted immortals. But then again, Xiao couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t any wine in his system, so he supposed it wasn’t shocking he had developed some sort of dependence on it.

  That thought made him anxious, which made him really want his morning drink, and he tightened his arm around the bamboo bar of his cage until it was almost painful to distract himself.

  He also glared at his captor. She sat a few feet away, boiling water over a campfire and ignoring him so studiously that it was obvious she was aware of everything he did.

  “I’m thirsty,” he called to her. For about the hundredth time. She never responded, but her shoulders almost always hitched a little higher.

  This time was no exception, and Xiao decided to take a gamble. “Nanami, I’m thirsty!”

  This time she whirled, and through gritted teeth snarled, “So drink the water I gave you!”

  Xiao smirked. Annoying her didn’t even come close to an adequate revenge but it was a start. If she had just stolen the Infinite Jug – that he would have forgotten soon enough. The shrinking was infuriating, but it was locking him in a cage that was unforgivable.

  He hated, hated being locked up. The bars here reminded him too much of the ones on his bedroom windows, even though they were bamboo rather than black iron. Given his current size and strength, they were just as unbreakable.

  So he would annoy her for now, and then, when he got out of here...

  Well, he wasn’t sure. He had never been this angry at anyone, except maybe his parents. But this deed would change her life forever, he would make sure of that.

  “I want wine, not water.”

  “I haven’t got any.”

  “Excuse me?” Xiao slapped a bar in his irritation. “What about my jug?”

  Her chin dropped, and her lips parted. Xiao didn’t doubt she was telling the truth when she said, “I forgot about the jug!” She pulled it out of her sash. “I need to deal with this, then I’ll be back.”

  Panic hit Xiao right in the gut. What if something happened to her? What if he was stuck in this cage forever? “You can’t leave,” he blurted. “What if – how can I be sure you’ll come back?” He tried once again to break a bamboo bar.

  She stared at him a moment, and Xiao didn’t mind the pity in her eyes, if it meant she let him out. “Even if I didn’t return, someone would come looking if you didn’t show up at the betrothal. The Moon and Night deities should have no trouble finding you.”

  Xiao scoffed and stepped back from the cage. “I wasn’t worried. Just trying to get you to free me.”

  She bit her lip, shrugged, and then she was gone, the Infinite Jug with her.

  Stress built in Xiao until he jumped up and down and yelled. He then took several big gulps of air. She was right. Even if she abandoned him, somebody would find him in less than a week.

  He rubbed his face. What a horrid place to be stuck for a week. His robes were disgusting too, for he hadn’t entirely missed them when he vomited.

  “Well, at least that water will be good for something.”
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  He stripped and washed away first the vomit from the ground, then scrubbed his robes and hung them to dry. He then sluiced water from the cup over himself, rinsing away any trace of bile and scrubbing dirt from his hair. He then collected one of the chestnuts that Nanami had left him and sat on the cloth bed she provided.

  He did not need to eat, being of shadow and twilight, but he hated going without food. The fact that she had left him so much actually made him a little less mad at her – but would it have killed her to give him one cup of wine before making off with his jug?

  The normally simple task of shelling the chestnut took him the better part of an hour and required hammering the stupid thing on a boulder – well, a stone that was bigger than his current size. But he finally managed and found that it tasted more delicious than any delicacy ever served in the Sun Court.

  As he ate, he found himself thinking about the way Nanami had forgotten that she even had the jug – her official task. That suggested that she had forgotten the jug because of Xiao.

  He turned the chestnut over in his hands. He knew that she had tumbled into lust with him the moment she saw him. But the way she took his kiss so personally, the fact his ulterior motives for seduction had upset her so much that she had abducted him – that seemed like more than lust.

  Such an impulsive action didn’t match the stories he had heard about her. Nanami was tens of millennia old, and she had evaded the Goddess of Justice for most of that time. She was said to steal only when someone deserved to lose what they had or someone else needed it more. Being caught by Xiao had only been because of the prayer she had sent him. Otherwise she would have succeeded. Even the fact she had prayed to him felt a little out of character, though admittedly stories could be wrong, and Xiao hadn’t known her long.

  Still, it suggested that she felt more than lust for him. Was her overreaction because she liked him? Even if it was simply infatuation, Xiao might be able to turn the tables on her.

  NANAMI teleported the Infinite Jug back to Mos Lake, where this commission had begun. It was a relatively isolated place with plenty of water, which gave her options for dealing with the jug.

 

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