Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
This had to be Huli asking him to come to their special place.
So why the sword? He’d never taken a sword to meet with Huli. The huli jing was playful and mischievous, but he’d never threatened Xiao Dan or made him feel unsafe.
He’d brought the sword because he couldn’t forget those eyes following him. If it had been Huli watching him in town, he wouldn’t have waited months to make his presence known. During all his other visits, Huli had come to find him as soon as he returned to town, regardless of the time of day or how many of his clan mates he had to outfox to get to Xiao Dan.
Tonight’s meeting had him feeling unsettled.
To make matters worse, Chen had been watching him far too closely all evening. His shidi knew something was up, but he was too irrational about Huli. Xiao Dan refused to tell him when the fox was back, not wishing to hear him complaining about the untrustworthiness of the huli jing.
Yes, Huli had his quirky little ways, and he could be a selfish creature at times, but he was also fun and lived for the moment. He embraced all the joys he could find in life, even if it was just lying under the stars with his head in Xiao Dan’s lap, listening to his Xiao Dan tell him boring stories about what had happened since they’d last met. He wasn’t blind to who Huli was. In fact, he loved all those strange things that made Huli the wonderful creature he was.
Sneaking away from the estate might have taken him a couple of tries, but he felt confident that he’d gotten away before anyone noticed he was missing. He lingered under the oak, listening for any sign that someone was approaching from the house.
Confident there was only the wind and the crickets, he pushed off the tree trunk and wandered into the plum orchard. The limbs of the trees hung low with their bounty. He’d come out twice to fill a basket so Ming Yu could make her special plum sauce, but they wouldn’t do a full harvest for another few weeks. The sticky sweet scent of the fruit filled the air, reminding him of the plum wine Chen and Xiang had been dutifully making each and every year. They might not get drunk off the liquor like they used to, but they were making a healthy profit from it at the market because they could make so much and allow it to ferment for so long without the temptation of breaking into the bottles.
He paused in a larger break of the leaves to stare up at the sliver of moon watching over him. It felt so lonely up there. Clouds were covering big swaths of the black sky, blocking out the stars.
Something moved in the brush, rattling branches and crunching old leaves. Xiao Dan drew his sword with a soft swish of noise and turned toward the intruder, muscles tensed for the coming attack.
“Has your Huli been away so many years that you’ve forgotten about me?” Huli’s voice trickled out of the dark woods that edged the orchard and Xiao Dan’s heart skipped in his chest.
“Huli!” Xiao Dan returned his sword to its sheath and rushed to the deepest shadows, searching for that familiar flash of orange and white.
But it wasn’t his fox who greeted him.
A young man with long, soft brown hair and enormous amber-brown eyes stepped out from behind a tree. He was breathtakingly beautiful in his navy robes as they hugged his slender frame. Full, pouty lips turned down in a frown as Xiao Dan stopped and even rocked back half a step. His hand tightened on his sword, but he didn’t reach to draw it…yet.
“Who…”
“I knew it. You have forgotten your Huli.”
“What?” he gasped, his brain rebelling against the information that was coming in. The young man spoke in Huli’s voice, but he was no fox. He retreated two more steps, but could go no farther. His shoulders slammed into the trunk of a plum tree. The leaves rattled overhead, and two soft thuds hit the ground around him as he knocked plums loose.
Was this really the huli jing in human form?
It couldn’t be. This had to be a trick.
“Huli? But…I…”
“Do you not like this form, Zhang-ge?” The young man took another step closer, and Xiao Dan tensed as if he wanted to run. This was too much. Too confusing.
When Xiao Dan didn’t answer, he sighed and hung his head. “I worked so hard.”
Before Xiao Dan could untangle his tongue and say anything, the young man disappeared in a flash of white light and was replaced with a very familiar fox with seven glorious tails. His fox.
“Huli,” Xiao Dan released a deep breath of relief and sagged against the tree. His knees trembled and even his head felt light.