*
When I was twelve, Lu Yanqiao found me in a dilapidated temple in the middle of nowhere and took me home.
His eyes were a pale amber. Moonlight covered his sleeves and the tips of his hair as he crouched down and asked softly, “Would you like to come home with me?”
When I was twenty-two, I found Lu Yanqiao in the same place, with nowhere left to turn.
The Frostshadow Palace, the demonic sect, had been destroyed in a siege by the Six Great Sects. Its former second palace master had escaped with grave injuries. I pushed myself to travel for ten days and nights, and at last found him before anyone else could.
A sword tip lifted his veiled hat, revealing a pair of pale amber eyes. They were smiling, yet not smiling, veiled in mist. Just as they had been on those mornings when he held my hand and taught me swordsmanship beneath the trees, and just as they had been five years ago, when he abandoned me without reason or hesitation.
With a sword at his throat, he looked utterly disheveled and made no attempt to resist. He only smiled. “Xiao Heng, hold your sword steady. How have you forgotten again?”
Lu Yanqiao thought I was going to kill him. Ridiculous. I wouldn’t kill him so easily. I was going to settle our score slowly.
*
Lu Yanqiao often dreamed about Jiang Heng.
Sometimes he dreamed of the dusty, quiet child he had just brought home. Sometimes he dreamed of the bright-eyed boy plucking a begonia blossom. But most often, he dreamed of the moment Jiang Heng, at seventeen, looked back at him unsteadily after Lu Yanqiao had stabbed him and driven him out of Frostshadow Palace.
That look was familiar to him: the bewilderment, helplessness, and disbelief of someone abandoned by the person they trusted with all their heart.
It was a scene he didn’t want to remember, yet it kept returning in his dreams. When he tossed and turned, unable to sleep, Lu Yanqiao thought that perhaps people really did feel guilty when they had done something wrong.
So when Jiang Heng blocked his way with a sword, just as he had reached a dead end, Lu Yanqiao could only think that this was karmic retribution.
So be it. Jiang Heng had said he wanted to settle their score, and it was time to set things straight. The White Jade Sword had made a name for itself among the righteous in recent years. Becoming a ghost beneath its blade as the remnant of a demonic sect would be a fitting end.
On the first day, Jiang Heng didn’t kill him. Lu Yanqiao waited calmly.
On the second day, Jiang Heng still didn’t kill him. He even carefully changed Lu Yanqiao’s bandages. Puzzled, Lu Yanqiao wondered when this child had become so calculating.
A month passed, and Lu Yanqiao finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Is this what you meant by ‘settling the score’? Is this how you treat your enemy?” Lu Yanqiao rapped the table, his face dark. “Is that what I taught you?”
Just who had taught him to kiss his enemy?
Reader’s guide:
* Both are each other’s first, happy ending, one-on-one romance. The blurb may change, but this is more or less the idea. A sweet little treat, a love-and-hate story where it’s impossible to stay mad.
* The familiar, feelings-focused two-person romance. They’re love-struck, but that won’t stop them from handling business ^_^
* The couple are completely devoted to each other, with mutual feelings written in bold. So this isn’t suited to readers with extreme preferences about either character.
(This time, it really is a pure, sweet little treat with no shards of glass or sprinkling of pepper. (Closing the book on my past record.))
Theme: The waters of Canglang are clear
