The Blue-Gray Horse - Chapter 2

“Whad did I ever do to him?”

Young Master Feng was in tears, pouring out his grievances to me as I secretly applied medicine to his wounds in the middle of the night.

“All I did was not call you Sis! He’s insane. Is there something wrong with him?”

His bonds had been loosened a little, but his hands and feet were still tied. His handsome face was swollen like a pig’s head, he could barely speak clearly, and his tears ran so freely they soaked my sleeve.

I hadn’t expected this little tyrant to cry so easily. I hadn’t shed nearly as many tears even when I’d been cut by a blade.

For a moment, I had nothing to say. I quietly tended his wounds.

“I want to go home,” he sobbed. “Untie me.”

I shook my head helplessly. “Father forbade it.”

He nearly fell apart. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You’re my sister. Why do you obey some outsider so faithfully?”

I frowned. “He isn’t an outsider. He’s my adoptive father.”

With some effort, the young man rolled his eyes. “An adoptive father can’t compare to your real father. Father sent me to bring you home. Are you going to listen to the father you were born to or the one you picked up elsewhere?”

What sort of distinction was that?

“I’ll listen to my adoptive father,” I said stubbornly.

He tipped his head back in despair and muttered, “He must have fed you something that made you stupid…”

Outside the window, the stars were faint; two fireflies glimmered in the dark.

I set down the medicine bottle. After a silence, I said, “When my wet nurse was fleeing with me, he saved us. He said he would raise me and wanted nothing in return but my loyalty.”

The gentle moonlight after the rain came through the window and touched the tip of my nose.

I lowered my eyes and stood. “I have nothing else to give him. I gave him my one loyal heart, and I have to keep my word.”

My shadow stretched long. Everything was quiet.

I smiled at Young Master Feng. “Don’t worry. Father always knows where to draw the line. If he doesn’t kill you, he’ll let you go. You’ll get home, so there’s no need to be afraid.”

The boy regarded me with a complicated expression. “You’re not coming with me? Everyone at home has been thinking of you.”

I saw through the lie at once and gave a soft laugh. “Then why did you only remember to look for me now?”

He fell silent.

I pressed my lips together, gathered up the bottles and jars, and turned toward the door. When I opened it, a tall, dark figure loomed over me. I looked up.

My guilty voice caught in my throat. “Father…”

He did not punish me. He did not even scold me. I wasn’t used to it at all.

Shi Lin, my eldest martial brother, laughed at me. “You’re uncomfortable because he *didn’t* scold you?”

I shook my head and helped lift a trunk onto the carriage. On a sudden whim, Father had decided to “escort” Young Master Feng back to the capital himself. Judging by the amount of luggage, we would be staying there for some time.

“How he treats me isn’t what matters. I’m worried about the way he’s been acting lately…” I leaned against a carriage post, uneasy. “It reminds me of how he used to be.”

His moods turned without warning. He never smiled. And…

“He can’t sleep again.”

I’d been keeping an eye on him, slipping over to his courtyard on several recent nights. Every time, he was awake—either practicing with his sword outside or sitting in his study with a lamp burning, reading letters in a robe thrown over his shoulders.

The messenger birds of Partridge Mountain were flying back and forth again. Hidden agents in every region, long dormant, had stirred into action. Old associates returned to the mountain gate, spent half a day talking with Shi Wuhen in the secret chamber, then hurried away with grave faces.

I had seen this taut atmosphere only once before, when he avenged the slaughter of his family. He had nearly lost his life in that campaign.

A sharp autumn wind disheveled my hair. I put a hand to it and said helplessly, “Senior Brother, I’m a little afraid…”

Shi Lin braced a hand on the carriage and turned toward me.

“Whatever the sect master does, he has his reasons. All we have to do is follow his orders. Besides, when have you ever seen him lose?”

He grinned and patted the top of my head, then looked into the distance.

“They say the imperial capital is magnificent. We mountain folk can go see the world with him. And you’ll get to meet your parents.”

I turned to watch Young Master Feng grimace as his servants helped him into a carriage.

Behind him, the woods of Partridge Mountain were ablaze with gold and red. Gray geese flew in a long line toward warmer lands where they could make their homes.

Even the birds wanted to leave, but I wanted to stay. And for some reason, I had a faint feeling that once I went, it would be a long time before I could return.