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“Don’t greet me.”
“What about when I think about you? I need something to call you in my mind.”
“Don’t think about me either.”
At least annoying his keeper was proving to be a way to amuse himself. A grin spread across Xiang’s lips and he leaned toward his new target, his hands resting behind his back. “I think you look like a Bo. Maybe I should call you Bo. Or maybe Bobo.”
“That is not funny.”
“Why not? One of my martial brothers is Junjie, and we call him Jun-Jun. It’s a perfect fit. You definitely need to be Bobo.”
“I am not a Bobo! You will stop calling me that immediately!” Mr. No-Name hissed. His usually pale face flushed, and his eyes sparkled with his ire.
“Fine. Er-ge’s ?3 name is Chen Bo Cheng. He also lost his mind when I tried to call him Bobo.” Xiang lifted one hand to his chin and rubbed it with his thumb and forefinger. “It might be confusing if both you and Chen Bo Cheng are Bo. How about Shen?”
Another glare.
“Qiao?”
“I’m beginning to believe your clan might be grateful to the dragon for stealing you away from them. I suspect they could use the break.”
Xiang gasped loudly. “Was that a joke? Did you honestly crack a joke at my expense?”
“No, I’m serious. You’re annoying, and you’ve probably annoyed your clan for years.”
Xiang pointed a finger at him. “True. How about Kai? Kai is an excellent name. Easy to say and remember.” The finger still pointed at his companion’s face moved to encompass all of him. “You look like a Kai.”
“Fine! Call me Kai. If it will stop your endless chatter, you may call me Kai,” he snapped, throwing up his hands. He stomped away from Xiang, who was biting his bottom lip to hold in his laughter. The newly christened Kai was so very easy to annoy. That meant he was probably easy to distract. It was only a matter of time before Kai slipped up and Xiang could sneak past him and out of this damn cage.
“I know I said the dragon doesn’t eat people, but he might make an exception for you,” Kai continued to grumble. “You’ve been given a place of honor in the dragon’s hoard, and all you think about is escaping and annoying me. Do you really think you’d be more comfortable in an empty cavern with the lichen and dripping water to keep you company? I think not.”
“Why did the dragon bring me here at all?”
“Because the queen ordered ‘Take,’ so the dragon took you.”
“Except the queen wasn’t pointing at me when she issued that command. She’d been pointing the sword at my didi?4, Yichen,” Xiang muttered under his breath. There was no way he could stand by and allow the fae to kidnap Yichen a second time. They’d just gotten him back.
Of course, his actual plan had been to knock Yichen and Rei out of the way. He hadn’t been trying to take Yichen’s place. That was poor planning on his part.
“You should pray that the queen doesn’t realize her mistake and amend her order with something like ‘Kill.’”
That was definitely a thought that had occurred to him since he’d woken up in the dragon’s lair.
Xiang scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Look, Kai, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He dropped his hand and his words died in his throat. He was standing alone in the dragon’s hoard once again.
Well, that answered one question. Kai was not human. At least, not completely. There was no way he could have escaped the hoard that fast if not for magic.
Or—and this was a much scarier thought—Kai was nothing more than a figment of his imagination that he’d made up to keep from going insane from loneliness.
But if that were the case, couldn’t his mind come up with someone more agreeable than Kai?
1 Shixiong – elder martial brother
2 Huli jing – fox spirit, a mischievous spirit that can be an omen of good luck or bad luck. It is believed to be able to change into male or female human form and seduce humans. Different from a nine-tailed fox (juiweihu in Mandarin or kitsune in Japanese or gumiho in Korean – just depends on whether you’re a donghua, anime, or K-drama watcher ??)
3 Er-ge – second oldest brother. A term of endearment. Referencing Chen Bo Cheng here since he is the second oldest behind Zhang Xiao Dan (AKA da-ge)
4 Didi – younger brother
