Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Hey. . .whatever gets you to the concept of not taking me. . .
I thought about Leo’s plan again with the tea ceremony.
It had been meticulous, designed to intertwine my fate with the traditions and expectations of the East, solidifying my place not just by Lei's side, but in the hearts and minds of the people we would govern.
Now with the press gone and the ceremony not happening, my path forward seemed murkier and less certain.
Plus, I could not have any more people dying just because of them spouting their opinions of me online.
“We'll need to find another way to do the tea ceremony,” I said, more to myself than to Leo.
Yet, still he grinned. “We must.”
“I can figure something out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can talk to Lei—”
“You have that much faith in your conversation with my son?”
“Well. . .what you’re saying makes sense—”
“He hates me, and thinks that I would kill you like I did with Chanel. Lei will not stand down from those facts, and he surely will not care about tea.”
“Lei also cannot tell me what to do or how I should do things. Yesterday, we agreed to his not Mountain Mastering me.”
Song laughed and Leo joined him.
I frowned. “We really did.”
Then, suddenly distant sounds of shouting and clashing metal reached ours ears.
Oh shit.
Song scowled at Leo. “I am sure that is now our sisters fighting my sons and their men. Are you happy with yourself?”
“I did not expect Lei to figure out where we were so quickly.” Leo stiffened and kept his focus on me. “I thought I had better control of the palace’s staff. It appears my son is plugging up the holes in his crew. We should have had another hour.”
I quirked my brows. “All for tea?”
“And more than that, Monique, I wanted a photo opportunity of you making, serving, and sipping tea in the traditional Eastern way with me, the Grand Mountain Master.”
I imagined that and this odd sadness came over me. “I may sound crazy, but I would have liked your teaching me how to do it.”
Leo smirked. “Never fear sounding crazy in the East, we’re all crazy here.”
“I’m starting to see that.”
“Anyway, this press moment would have shown everyone that not only do I approve of you as Lei’s new partner, but Jing would have too.”
“How?”
“They all know that I would have never allowed anyone to even step in her home, Lotus Blossom, without her acknowledgment.”
His words painted a picture of my carefully crafted debut to the East, a symbolic passing of the torch under the watchful eyes of Jing’s memory and his strategic planning.
Damn. Leo is a fucking beast with this strategy shit.
Leo sighed. “Meanwhile. . .yesterday. . .my son just flaunts you in front of the cameras, ‘Look at me. I’m so in love, and she’s gorgeous and all mine. Don’t even think about talking to her or I will kill you.’”
I blinked. “Well, I don’t think he said all that.”
To my shock, Song chuckled. “It was definitely that.”
Leo nodded. “His showing you off was not only his declaration of his love for you, but his warning to any men in the East who happened to see you and consider approaching.”
“You did that a lot with Jing.” Song smirked.
“Well, Lei is his father’s son.” Leo pointed at me. “But, you must be my daughter—smart and strategic.”
My breath hitched.
The way this damn day twisted and turned, I didn’t know if I would have any brain power left by the evening.
Leo continued, “If you really think that you can talk to my son, then you must buy us more time, Monique. Perhaps not today, but at least tomorrow.”
I thought about it.
“Don’t you want to do the tea ceremony too?”
I let out an exasperated breath. “I do, and not just to be in good favor with the East, but. . .because my acceptance would make Lei’s life easier with ruling after the battle.”
“There you go.” Leo bobbed his head. “And why would that make it all easier?”
“Because Lei still has to make things right with the South and West. He doesn’t need to now battle everyone in the East about me. Then, there’s Yan wanting to take the East after the battle—”
“What?!”
I blinked. “Yan. . .she said she was going to take the East.”
Song widened his eyes. “When?”
“On Mount Utopia.”
Leo’s voice rose, making me tremble. “My daughter said what?!”
There was this dark, cold cruelness that rose within his eyes—a black malevolent mist engulfing his irises.
Swirling.
Growing.
Deadly.
Almost demonic.
Had I not witnessed the change, I would have always thought his eyes were bottomless pits threatening to swallow me whole.
Now. . .I was looking at the man that had killed my father and all the others. I bet this was the face that even Chanel saw right before she died.
I just hoped I would never see this again because I was damn close to pissing myself.