The officer’s eyes slowly widened and he swallowed as he looked at Leander.“Pill master?”he guessed.
Auntie Daiyu cackled again.“Exactly.Had he grown up with us instead of his abominable mother and her attachment to Western beliefs and laws, he would have known his rights.Since he is unaware of the customs that govern how magical and non-magical China interact, perhaps I shall feel it necessary to demand recompense.”
The officer lost most of the color from his face, and Leander stood and came around the table, putting a cautious hand on Auntie Daiyu’s shoulder.“Auntie, my only concern is seeing Heng and making sure that he is safe before going home.I do not want to have anything to do with non-magical China or non-magical America or even magical America.I want to go home.”As much as he appreciated her attempt to defend him, he didn’t want to be held up to some standard he couldn’t match, like the magic of a pill master.
She sighed before turning her gaze toward him.Some of the gleeful malice had faded and she gave him a weary sigh.“You're not going to allow me to have any fun, are you?”
“I have a family to get home to,” Leander said.He was terrified Shanlin was being guarded by people who did not understand the power Druwolf held.This battle had been a victory, but Leander knew the war was still to be fought, and he needed to have Shanlin next to him where he could see that the boy was safe.
“Very well.”Auntie Daiyu sounded bored with all of it.“Come.Nie Heng is far enough along in his cultivation that he should have healed himself already, and if not, I do know how to heal a body.I would be greatly amused if Nie Xiaobo drove all this way only to find that I had spirited his chicks back home before he could even get here.If I cannot take out my pettiness on the police, then I shall indulge by annoying him.”
Leander had no idea if that was part of her performance or whether she really was aggravated enough to mildly torture others, but when she left the room, he hurried to follow her.He was not going to be the next person to annoy her.Maybe she had lied to the police about him being a pill master, but she had magical powers far beyond his own, and right now she looked angry enough to use all of them to make him miserable if he slowed her down.
He had lived this long by not annoying powerful people, and he was not going to change now.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Leander eased intothe room.He had expected Heng to be in the hospital.He’d been shot, so that was a logical conclusion, but magical China defied logic.Heng sat in a hotel chair in loose fitting jeans and a T-shirt.“Are you okay?”Leander asked.The question was stupid, but he couldn’t convince his brain to come up with a better one.The hotel door closed behind him, but Leander didn’t move farther into the small sitting room with its one couch and oversized television.
“I’m fine.I am, however, thankful that I have developed my magic.I would have faced a much more painful and prolonged recovery otherwise.”He raised his shirt to show a square of white gauze taped across the entry wound.
Guilt stabbed him through the liver.“I’m sorry I brought this violence into your life.”Leander had never meant words more seriously.
Heng offered a small smile.“You brought nothing into my life other than yourself and a wonderful boy who is keeping my parents very happy.”
Leander grimaced.“I feel like that’s something else I should apologize for.Auntie Daiyu referred to Shanlin as their heir.Please tell me that isn’t true.”
“Why?”Heng tilted his head, his long hair falling forward.“He’ll inherit a small fortune.Eventually.My parents have both cultivated their magic, even if they have chosen to forgo the path of ascension.That means they will live for far longer than a non-magical person would.If Shanlin hopes to inherit, he’ll have to cultivate his own magic.”
“I’m not sure he has any.”
Heng huffed.“You have magic.His mother has magic.Blood will run true.”
“I’m not his biological father,” Leander admitted.When he’d first come to China, that hadn’t seemed to matter.However, everything was different now.Not only was Leander disrupting the Nie family by coming in as an adopted son, but his son was not even biologically his son.Hell, Leander hadn’t officially adopted him, so legally there was no relationship at all.And now Leander had put an unrelated child in the way of inheritance.That didn’t feel safe.
“I know.My parents know, too.”Maybe Leander looked as shocked as he felt because Heng continued.“Chinese magic may not have the concentrated power of yours, but it is far more flexible.He does not share your magic, but we feel a thread of family between you.You are the father he still has on this Earth, and magic recognizes that.It makes Shanlin your son and it makes him my mother’s first grandson.Do not take that joy from her.”
