‘Yes, my lord.’ She squirmed beneath his scrutiny. ‘I’m certain it must be.’
She didn’t know a thing about military rankings or the
exalted history of tea. Every day would have to be like this if she was going to learn what she needed to know.
Yan Ling was exhausted by the time the food came, but she was grateful to have something besides the nobleman’s discerning stare to occupy herself. Her mouth watered at the dishes placed before her. The journey had worked up her appetite and she piled slices of pork along with sautéed bamboo shoots and greens onto her rice. The flavours were rich with a blend of garlic and chilli. Indeed, a meal for a princess.
Not two bites in, the arrows started again.
‘Slowly,’ he reprimanded in a low voice.
Weariness had beaten down her defences. She narrowed her eyes and shot him a poisoned look of her own. It missed the mark, though. Fei Long was looking downwards, concentrating on the motion of his balanced chopsticks as he ate with perfect moderation.
* * *
Fei Long had occasionally travelled with servants. They rarely needed instruction, always knew their place and moved about unnoticed and unseen. He didn’t know what to do with someone who was untrained and without a predetermined role and function. This became painfully obvious when he went to his room at the inn and found that Yan Ling had followed him dutifully into the chamber.
She blinked at him, awaiting some instruction undoubtedly. When none came, she turned and headed to the door. He let out a breath of relief, but it was short-lived. Yan Ling closed the door and once again faced him, hands folded. Waiting.
The family’s servants and hired hands always disappeared somewhere once they settled down for the night. He didn’t know where. He didn’t care where.
‘Yan Ling.’
‘My lord?’
He preferred not to think of her as a female as they travelled together, but it was hard not to once they were alone like this. He considered calling for the innkeeper and asking for some other place for her, but that was impossible. Where would they put a lone young woman? He had proposed this scheme and taken her along with him, which meant her well being and safety was now his responsibility. And nothing was more important to Fei Long than his responsibilities.
The low platform of the bed lay against one wall. He gathered the bamboo mat that had been laid over the top of it.
He deposited the rolled mat in Yan Ling’s arms. ‘Take any spot you wish. Sleep well.’
She looked left and right. The situation was clearly as uncomfortable for her as it was for him. Quickly, quietly, she moved to the furthest corner from the bed. He averted his eyes and prepared himself for sleep, striving to ignore whatever was happening in the corner.
First he removed his sword and then started to undo his outer robe. He paused with his hand over his belt and glanced over his shoulder.
Yan Ling had arranged the mat in the corner. She was lying upon it with her back to him. Her slippers were arranged neatly beside the mat and she’d untied her hair. He stared at the black curtain that fell down her back. An unbidden thought came to him and he wished it hadn’t.
‘Miss Yan Ling.’
She lay very still. Too still to be asleep. ‘Yes?’
Her voice sounded muffled and she didn’t face him, an act for which he was grateful. His throat grew dry with embarrassment, but he had to know.
‘Your virtue—’ The miserable words lodged in his throat. He coughed. ‘Is it…intact?’
She gasped and spun into motion, twisting around to push herself up to sitting position. ‘What are you suggesting? I told you I’m a good girl.’
‘Nothing,’ he said in a rush. ‘I’m not suggesting anything.’
He took a step forwards, which launched her backwards. Her back collided against the wall.
‘You stay right there!’ She shook a finger at him.
‘I didn’t bring you with me to claim you for myself, I’ve been honest with my reasons from the first. You need to be pure to be married to Khitan.’ Heavens above, his face was on fire.
‘Well, I know what happens when men and women are together alone.’
‘I don’t think of you in that way,’ he insisted.
Irresistibly Fei Long was plagued by a flicker of an image of the two of them, his arms around her bamboo-thin form, which he immediately tried to banish. Damn it all. It was only because she was insinuating it.