Lord Aengus sighs. ‘I wanted to know how it felt to have my qi taken. I, well, I had a bit too much to drink – and...’ He clears his throat. ‘It was all in good fun,’ he finishes lamely.
I glare at the courtiers. ‘How could you drain a foreign envoy of yang qi! Do you have a death wish?’
They drop to their knees and kowtow furiously.
‘Please, Lady Jing, we would never dare!’
‘It wasn’t like that!’
‘Brother Yang! Tell her, we never meant to hurt you!’
They’re all weeping and sobbing, flinging themselves to the floor.
‘Lady Jing, you’ve misunderstood, truly!’ Lord Aengus says. ‘It was – um...’ he pauses.
‘A cultural exchange!’ one of the Bo-Ba courtiers pipes up.
‘Yes, yes, a cultural exchange. The whole point of my visit,’ Lord Aengus says with desperate conviction.
‘We didn’t know he would get like that... He was laughing, we were just having fun...’ This from Lady Mo.
‘You should all know better. Especially you, Lady Xi – as the most senior courtier you’re responsible for the actions of your delegation,’ I say. ’Whether it was intentional or not, you’re still responsible. And you must face the consequences.’
The courtiers continue to kowtow and cry. I want to plug my ears and scrub out my eyeballs.
‘Don’t cry, ladies, please don’t cry,’ Lord Aengus says, genuine panic in his voice. ‘Stop, Lady Jing! You’re scaring them. It isn’t their fault.’ He slides a guilty gaze my way.
I narrow my eyes. He’s hiding something.
The muscles in his face twitch, as if he’s fighting with himself. Finally, he blurts, ‘They didn’t know about my medical condition!’
A throbbing starts behind my right eye. ‘Medical condition?’ I repeat slowly. ‘You never told us you had a medical condition.’ There’s an edge to my words, a warning that he better tell me the truth and fast.
As much as a two-dimensional stretched-out face can look embarrassed and ashamed, Lord Aengus manages to do so. ‘Contain my thoughtlessness, noble Lady Jing. When my awen gets too low, this happens. I didn’t want anyone to fuss, so I kept my condition secret. Contain my deepest apologies.’
My fists and teeth are clenched tight. Withholding vital information that would have helped us, helpedme, keep him safe is the height of irresponsibility. I want to tear his big blond head off. It is his fault twice over that we are in this mess. Itoldhim to stay away from the hulijing. And now he reveals he has a medical condition triggered by the loss of qi. I don’t even know where to start. I sag into the nearest chair. We are all so fucked.Iam so fucked. My first Council as Special Liaison to the Hulijing Court, and the rotted hulijing drain a Treaty member envoy on my watch. How do I explain this to Big Wang?
My thoughts must be written across my face because one look at me and Lord Aengus’s complexion turns waxy grey.
‘Lord Aengus,’ I hiss. ‘You are the son of the Tuatha Dé Dagda. You are here as the guest of Yan Luo Wang, head of the Realms of Hell. Any harm caused to an envoy, intentional or not,while in our territory is a serious violation of the International Treaty of Immortal Harmony. Not only will the Realms of Hell be censured, but so will the Hulijing Court, and if we’re unlucky, the Celestial Realm will be held to account as well. This is a diplomatic catastrophe.’
‘Normally I know when to stop but the drinks here are stronger than I expected. We fell asleep and I woke to everyone screaming.’
What a mess. ‘We have to restore you to your regular self. We will call our healers—’
‘I’m afraid the only way to restore me is to see my own healer.’
‘Let us bring your healer here then,’ I say.
Lord Aengus makes another apologetic face. ‘Well, the thing is, the elixir I need requires waters with special healing properties only found in Inis Fáil. Once taken from its source, the water’s potency only lasts for forty-eight hours.’
‘Which means it will be useless by the time it reaches yin Shanghai.’ I cradle my head in my hands and curse the hulijing, the envoy, and myself for getting drunk with Gigi and making bad decisions involving marbles.
Lord Aengus clears his throat again. ‘Someone will need to bring me home... in this condition, I can’t bring myself.’ There’s a note in his voice that I don’t like one bit.
When I raise my head, his bright blue eyes peer at me, full of expectation.
Hells no. I will absolutely not be Niang Niang’s representative in this mafan. She can take responsibility for the actions of her own courtiers. There is no rotted way I am getting involved.
