008. remain

The path from the Tian’s estate to Zhongxin market was tightly coiled with street vendor clogged veins. Observant as he was, Laike found the environment overstimulating—too many sounds, too many sights, too many people. Voices overlapped voices until Laike couldn’t concentrate on a single story; the prince had so many memories to convey it seemed […]

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007. between beckoning and bidding

“Please,” Yuhui pressed again, voice depleted in the peak of his petitioning, “This would mean the world to me, Laike.” Laike bowed his head, jaw tight. He didn’t turn into Yuhui’s insistent touch. Instead, he implored him gently: “You should get dressed, my prince.” And so, Yuhui, youngest prince of the Tian clan, middle heir […]

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006. lungsway

With his amber eyes still caught on every dip and curve of Yuhui’s nonsense markings, Laike made a single innocent request:  “Take off your clothes.” “Um… why?” Yu’s eyes were wide even as his fingers indicated he was not opposed to following the order. The boy’s hands moved to fuss with the sash looped around […]

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005. swollen sea and sinking stone

A month before Xueyu proposed Laike come to the Tian family complex, Jiling posed the young disciple a riddle at the tail end of prayers: “Laike,” she said. “Orphan of the deluge, my castaway child of the endless sword, tell me: if you stand at the epicenter of a flood spirit’s anguish, how do you […]

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004. three wishes

Yuhui stood next to the door of the Tian family’s grand sitting room, deferential to the guests he allowed to pass him—the lady of the mountain and her master of swords, his brother and the two young girls, the alluring boy in black followed by the Tian clan’s youngest child, his sister. When Miyan was […]

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003. anything can happen

Fanxing city, separated from the hollow mountain that lurked distant in its periphery by a long shadow over the landscape, was just beginning to stir to life in the swell of morning. The Tian clan’s manor functioned as the sprawling heart of that land over which they ruled, perfectly sectioned between matters public and private. […]

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