i Li pulled Tricky into her arms and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his long fur, until the sounds of the battle gradually quieted.
She knelt and oh so quietly, peered out of the window.
She shifted the curtain a fraction, and Bai Li, who was mounted again and had his head re inches from the window, turned to look straight into her eyes.
"We can make a habit of gazing into one another’s eyes if you like, i ili, but I thought you said you didn’t want to get married?"
She quickly dropped the curtain back down and flattened her back against the wall of the carriage box, hiding from him in embarrassnt.
"You can co out now, i ili," he called, from just outside her window, a smile playing at his lips.
She erged cautiously from the carriage, looking everywhere for her brother.
"He’s over there. He’s fine," said Bai Li, hooking his thumb in the direction of i Renlong, who was busy trussing up bandit prisoners.
She moved to hop down the carriage.
"Don’t co down. Stay inside now that you’ve seen him. It’s dangerous. There are injured n everywhere, so might still be ard."
He didn’t ntion that she was the target, so they didn’t want to give these rcenaries a final chance to earn their pay.
Her First Brother looked over at that mont and caught her eye. He waved to her, motioning for her to get back into the carriage.
i Renlong looked across at Bai Li and gave him a nod of thanks.
Satisfied that her brother wasn’t injured, i ili re-entered the carriage and sat down to wait. There would be no Purple Cloud Temple today or who knew when, she thought sadly.
How useless she was... In the heat of battle, she had fallen to pieces in a panic. And worse, she had taken the Commander from the battlefield in order to protect her.
She was sorely disappointed in herself. This was not how she had imagined she would react in a battle. In her imaginings, she had always thought she would rise to the occasion and use her training to help her brothers in a crisis.
Instead, she had cried and shaken like a leaf. She put her head in her hands despondently.
Tricky trotted over and gave his mistress a gentle lick, sensing her emotions.
"It seems like I’m not Hua Mulan, Tricky," she said sadly.
"You’re not, Hua Mulan, and neither is she a real woman, i ili," Bai Li said through the window.
She jumped up and opened the curtain to glare at him.
"Don’t eavesdrop, Bai Li!" she scolded him.
"Rember, there are always ears on the other side of the wall."
"Insufferable man," she muttered to herself.
Outside the carriage, the normally stern Commander’s eyes crinkled.
----------
"Eunuch Kong seeks an audience my Lady," one of Noble Consort Ling’s maidservants announced.
"Send him in," she said eagerly. She waved all of her attendants away so they could speak privately.
"Go on," she spoke to the kneeling man. "What news do you bring?"
The man shook slightly as he raised his head but didn’t stand. "Unfortunately it’s not good news, Noble Consort. The attack failed. They were repelled by her brother and his guards. There was a hidden force travelling so distance behind them led by Commander Bai."
She flopped back into her ornate throne chair. "Ridiculous! Do you know how much I paid those clowns? How hard is it to shoot so arrows into a carriage box? And what’s Commander Bai doing following a lone girl when he should be preparing for war?"
"I’m sorry mistress. The attack failed to account for the hidden force that was following the Court Lady, and they were overwheld."
"Hmmph!" she sniffed angrily. "Were there any survivors?"
"Only the one that ca back with the news just now. They took so prisoners, but all of them killed themselves with poison before they could be questioned."
"That’s sothing at least," she said angrily. "Find that survivor. You know what to do."
Eunuch Kong nodded resolutely. He was very frightened of this vicious woman, having completed many dark deeds for her over the years. He knew that one of these days, when his usefulness ran out, she would order him to be erased because he knew too much.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he backed out of the door to her chamber. He lived to fight another day!
At around the sa ti, the Second Prince’s Chief Eunuch, Shi Lei, arrived in his study.
"I have news your highness," Eunuch Shi looked across uncertainly at the Prince’s Chief Guard, Wu Lan.
"He can stay. Let’s hear it," replied the Second Prince, motioning for the eunuch to continue.
"Miss i’s entourage was attacked by assassins on their way to visit Purple Mountain Temple today," Eunuch Shi knew the Prince took a special interest in Miss i.
"What?" the Prince sprang to his feet, his heart racing with fear. "Is she alive? Was she injured?"
"She’s alive. Not injured," the eunuch answered quickly. "Her First Brother and his guards repelled the bandits. They were joined by a hidden contingent of guards led by Commander Bai."
The Second Prince heaved a sigh of relief, closing his eyes briefly after returning to his seat.
Saved by Bai Li again... This was getting to be too much of a habit, he thought. If the trashy romance novels were anything to go by, won were very susceptible to the attentions of a man who saved their life...
He had thought he was in pri position after rescuing her from the lake, but it appeared that Bai Li was busy levelling the playing field.
Still, he focussed on levelling his breathing back out, better that than the unthinkable alternative.
The attack must have been large-scale and professional if it required Bai Li to support i Renlong and his guards.
He must speak to i Renlong and make sure he was inford of her plans. He should have provided the extra guards...
With Bai Li and the eldest two i brothers about to leave for the northern campaign, he would step in. She would have to rely on him in the future, he thought with satisfaction, which was as it should be.
The Prince wondered if this was the work of soone from the harem. After the Pri Minister’s approach for a marriage alliance, it seed highly unlikely he would be bothered with i ili unless he rejected the man’s offer of his eldest daughter’s hand.
There were only a few consorts with sufficient personal wealth to manage an attack on this scale, he thought.
He had heard that Noble Consort Ling had been to visit his Father within hours of i ili entering his service. This attack had all the hallmarks of her dirty work from prior unsavoury incidents.
He narrowed his eyes with determination; it appeared he would need to go faster executing his plans for Miss i.
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