The dragon scoffed right back.
“Maybe it’s mad at you for giving it away.” Zhi Lan felt the dragon’s whiskers tickle her cheek.
“I’ve been fine without it.”
“You have not.”
Shao Qing seemed to consider this, but made no answer.
“I’m not keeping it,” Zhi Lan said crossly. “You might as well take it since we went through all this trouble.”
He remained frustratingly silent, seemingly not in the mood to argue. Zhi Lan wasn’t either.
“Su Su would want you to have it back,” she said quietly.
Shao Qing grazed his hand over his chest where he kept the red pouch. He stared at the dragon for a moment, then, hesitantly, he reached out a finger to touch its miniature horns. The dragon slithered from Zhi Lan’s shoulders, following Shao Qing’s hand.
Like ink in water, the creature suddenly dissolved into ribbons of gold, spiraling around his finger and arcing over his body. Finally, like a rushing river, it flowed into his chest and disappeared. Shao Qing staggered back with a gasp, stumbling into the wall behind them.
“Are you alright?” Zhi Lan cried. She took his arm. He had knocked down a painting above them. The heavy brocade fell onto his head, depicting a man and no less than three women engaging in illicit pleasures.
Zhi Lan looked heavenward, cursing Magistrate Bu and his perverted tastes. As if she neededthison top of everything else! She tossed the painting aside. Shao Qing groaned.
“Shao Qing?” she asked, nervous when he didn’t answer.
What if having his soul back made him go mad? Or what if he proved to be a very different person than Zhi Lan assumed him to be? He could very well be a cold-hearted criminal at his core.
Her worries were not appeased when Shao Qing began to shake. It was an uncontrollable convulsing, and he gasped as if he had become possessed by some evil spirit.
Zhi Lan sat back uneasily, but she steeled herself. He had helped her, so she would stay and return the favor no matter what condition he ended up in. Whatever happened, she would make it right.
When Shao Qing finally looked up, Zhi Lan realized that he had been weeping. His nose was red and tears streamed from his eyes.
Eyes that were a deep, soulful brown.
17 – Shao Qing
