“We have enemies, so we are likely at risk,” Leander said.They had Druwolf’s organization, the American government, and whatever enemies Xi had gathered all gunning for them, but all that would have to wait.“But that’s not what I found out in Yaan.”He paused, struggling to find the right words.‘I’m sorry I accidentally trapped you in a marriage’ felt too jarring.
The silence dragged on.“I understand you’re not talkative, but this is—”
“This is embarrassing,” Leander said.
Xi frowned.
“I should have seen the truth, both ten years ago and now.”Now that Leander knew the truth, he could see all the clues.He’d been carried to the Nie house in a sedan chair.The Nies had asked him to serve tea.They had given traditional gifts.These were all elements of a Chinese wedding.Leander rarely felt stupid, and looking back, he had been an idiot.No Chinese family threw a celebration that large for a visiting guest, but wedding feasts were famous for their extravagance.Yes, he was an idiot.
“Leander?”Xi sounded confused.
Leander rubbed a hand over his face.
“Is it that bad?”
“It’s not bad...just awkward,” Leander confessed.“When you use a translation pill, the magic associates words you know with words you’re learning in your new language.”
“I know,” Xi said.“That’s why words are harder to learn if they don’t have an equivalent in English.You explained it.”
“Apparently, I forgot that rule, which is embarrassing.I told you about qidi and qixiong—little brother and older brother.”
“Yeah,” Xi agreed.“Heng is your older brother and you’re my older brother.Those relationships are why we have a place here.”Xi tilted his head to the side.“But now I’m wondering what you mistranslated because it’s clear something is going on.”
“It doesn’t mean brother.”Leander couldn’t get more words past his teeth.He hated feeling like a fool.He had long ago accepted that he was unkind and unlikable, but his intelligence was his fortress.
“Are you going to tell me what it means or make me guess?”
“Husbands.It means husbands.”
“Wait.What?”Xi stumbled back and landed on the end of the bed.“What do you mean ‘husbands’?”
“I mean husbands.Qidi is the younger husband who is joining a new family.When Heng called me his qidi, he was taking me as a husband.And when Shanlin and I showed up in town relying on that relationship, I announced to everyone that I was the Nie family’s daughter-in-law.The welcoming feast was a wedding feast.”Leander grimaced once he had blurted the confession.
Xi stared at him, blinking and opening his mouth like a dying fish trying to breathe air when some fisherman dumped it on shore.
“That was my reaction,” Leander admitted.
“But if you’re married to Heng...and then you said I was your qidi...”Xi’s voice was a horrified whisper.
“Leaving Heng to father a child is apparently very normal,” Leander explained, “and taking another husband after that means I’m not obsessing over Heng, so that’s normal too.Now if he wanted to stay married and I slept with other people, I get the feeling it would be more problematic.”
Xi blew out a breath.“‘Problematic’.”He gave a rough laugh.“That would be one word for it.If the Nies thought you were married to me, why did they have a wedding feast for a marriage you had ten years ago with Heng?”
“For a grandson,” Leander said.“And that may pose a danger.We’ve just put Shanlin in line to inherit from a powerful family.”Leander sat at the small game table.“I am so sorry.I feel like I keep dragging both you and Shanlin into messes that I’ve made.This was my mistranslation.”He rested his head in his hands, unwilling to even look at Xi.
Xi crossed the room in one large step and put a hand on Leander’s shoulder.“You’ve never tried to do anything other than protect us.”
Leander snorted.“I’ve spent most of my life protecting myself.”
“And yet you walked away from everything to keep Shanlin safe.”
“Leaving kept me safe, too.I think you’re giving me too much credit.”
Xi caught Leander’s hand and pulled him to his feet before backing up to the bed.“And you have never given yourself enough credit.We’ve all made mistakes.The ones you and I have made are worse than most, but even though I was part of a government that tried to hunt you down and take away all your rights, you never blamed me.You never hated me, not even when I hated myself.”He sat on the end of the bed and pulled Leander close enough to wrap his arms around his waist.
Leander wanted to lean into Xi’s strength, but he felt too exposed, too raw, too vulnerable.
“I don’t know if I’m brave enough for this,” he confessed, his voice a whisper.
