Auntie Li barked a laugh. “Adequate! Little ice-tail, you set my shop on fire!”
Poppy’s gaze snapped to him. “You… set something on fire?”
Mingxi did not look at her. “I was nine.”
“And it was three stalls,” Auntie Li added cheerfully. “But he apologized so prettily we let him off.”
Another merchant called from across the walkway, “Mingxi! Come eat something! Too thin for a clan lord!”
“I am not—” Mingxi began.
But three more merchants chimed in at once.
“Too pale!”
“Too tense!”
“He works too much!”
Mingxi looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.
Poppy smiled, really smiled, for the first time since they’d arrived.
Auntie Li leaned across her counter. “Who’s this with you? Does your father know you brought someone home?”
Mingxi stiffened. “Auntie—”
Poppy dipped a polite curtsy. “Penelope Sinclair.”
Auntie Li squinted. “Pretty. Too thin. Needs better broth.”
“She eats perfectly well,” Mingxi said sharply.
“So defensive,” Auntie Li teased. “You bring home one girl and suddenly you’re territorial!”
Mingxi made a strangled noise.
Poppy blinked.Is he… blushing?
Auntie Li clucked and shoved a small wrapped bundle at Poppy.
“Moon-pastry. Eat it before you faint from his moodiness.”
“Thank you.” Poppy accepted it awkwardly, warmth blooming in her chest.
Mingxi exhaled through his nose. “We should continue.”
“Yes,” Auntie Li said, winking. “Wouldn’t want to keep the girl from seeing what a proper fox clan looks like.”
They walked on, the kit still cradled in his arm.
Poppy glanced at him sidelong. “You’re different here.”
Mingxi did not meet her eyes. “This is home.”
She let herself absorb the warmth, the laughter, the teasing, the chaos, the easy affection he had no defense against. He looked less like a fox lord and more like… a man. A man who had once been a boy running through these very stalls, setting fires and stealing sweets.
“I like it,” Poppy said softly.
