Chapter 6 Part 1: A Ruse

The rainy season was it? 

Jun pulled at his shoulder cloak, staying under the trees. At his feet, a Kasai member bowed, their report finished. Jun exhaled a hot breath into his hand before he dismissed the informant. Mei, also bowed, awaiting his next movement. Around the Kasai, she was just another one of them, working under him. At least that is how she wanted to portray herself. He found it confusing. At home, she acted like a spoiled daughter, but at ‘work’ she was diligent and dutiful. It made it hard for him to keep it straight.

“Let’s go, Mei,” he sighed, turning his back and heading to their home. The rain intensified and they broke out into a run, dashing under the eaves. Jun sighed as he began to reach for his hair, soaked and clinging to his back. As if awaiting their return, Lira appeared and hummed.

“Allow me, Mi lord.”

Her hands reached up and began to wring the hairs like laundry. Jun puffed his cheeks into a pout, resting his chin as she worked. He could manage on his own.

When she stiffened, he looked back and she quickly smiled, her hands beginning their task again. Jun’s blue eyes stared at her right hand, wrapped in bandages and ground his teeth, lips sealed to hide the bitterness in his mouth.

The condition for staying here was to have a sacred burn. No exceptions. Lira had no sacred burns so she had to be burned and he couldn’t heal it. It had to scar. She was given two years at most to change it into a sacred burn or be kicked out. All his followers were like that and that only burned his chest. Each one struggled with their tasks.

“Why don’t you just quit it, Lira. Can’t you see you’re upsetting Lord Jun?” Mei hummed as she flipped her hair around, having successfully wrung it out. She pushed in but Lira remained resolute.

“I-I’m fine.”

“Of all the places you could be burned, you chose your right hand. How did you think you could take care of us with an injury like that?”

Lira bit her lip as she allowed Mei to work on Jun’s hair. Instead of watching idly, she stepped back and began to work on laundry. Jun paused. Hadn’t she hung it out to dry today? What unfortunate timing. She started to wring it out as well and Mei made a ‘tch’ sound before ending her help with Jun and assisting her, complaints spilling out. Jun watched silently.

“Honestly, what was going through your mind.”

“I wanted to know what it was like for our lord.” Lira interjected and Jun sat up straight, brow raising as Mei’s eyes widened. The two looked to one another. That was her reasoning? Jun found himself pulling at his shoulder cloak. He didn’t like that idea one bit. He was the reason she chose her right hand? His stomach formed pits before he shook it off.

“Oh. I’ll get something warm brewing.”

Lira rose and Jun let her believe his shudder had been a shiver. There was no need to correct it. With a long sigh he rose to his feet and headed to his room, Mei falling in step behind him.

This home, was a bit removed from the school and a bit shabby compared to Amalie’s residence, but it was what it was. As he walked through the hall, a few other members of his faction greeted him and he acknowledged it before closing the door behind him, Mei sneaking inside.

He heard her whistle as she looked about, eyes scanning.

“Wow, your desk,” she groaned. Jun frowned. He knew it was messy. He had rushed out when the Kasai had asked for an audience.

His footsteps creaked the old floors as he unslung his shoulder cloak, resting it on the chair. Papers scattered around the desk amongst shavings.

Some showed runes he had studied which were engraved into his carvings, but others were riddled with words. Jasper’s notes—all in an otherworld language he somehow could still read, though it baffled him.

Mei’s stretch rocked another floorboard as he sat.

“Well then, school will be starting soon. We should get ready.” Mei hummed as she began to walk around the room. Her things were tucked in the corner, the dividing partition slid to the side to create a more spacious room.

Jun averted his eyes to his own belongings and one-handedly began to put his tools away. He’d chosen his course of study in this strange school and books would be far down the list. Instead, practicals is what he needed.

His hand bumped a tool and it clattered to the floor, taking a few things with it. As he grumbled about it, his hand brushed against the nearest item and he froze.

The golden twin dragon coin. He fingered it before placing it back on the desk as his mind conjured up faces. Youth, those who had been under him and Mei, till the Matriarch’s spies had returned.

He sighed, not wanting to dwell on the past.

Mei looked over, eyes pausing on the token before she shrugged.

“They’ll be fine. I’ve vetted them. They won’t betray us,” Mei snarked.

Jun remained silent, urging his limbs to keep working on his preparations. His hands paused as he shifted the scrawled notes. Organizing them into a neat pile, he couldn’t help the small smile. Without those notes, he would be more lost than he cared to admit. Because of those notes, they had anticipated the Matriarch’s returning spies and had prepared for it.

“Stay safe.”

“Of course my lord.”

“We’ll have a report ready for you tomorrow.”

“Don’t push yourselves.”

Laughter. And then screams.

Jun shook himself. It had to be done.

How else would the ‘former’ Matriarch’s spies be returned to the fold? Hounding and pursuing them, injuring them till the spies believed their comrades were in peril and stepped out. The cries, though exaggerated, still left a vile taste on his tongue. He took in a shaky breath. It would be alright. They were allowed to act against him and Mei, even the other students so long as they didn’t target the leaders of the school and reported back. An insider job, one that Jasper had wanted to figure out, but hadn’t the time to craft.

His eyes glinted as a bit of silver flashed in a nearby tree outside his window. He let his peripherals linger. One, no two spies were watching him and Mei. Not his people, but the Matriarch’s. Another reason for this joined room.

As he looked to Mei, she signaled to him and he tilted his head.

Two spies.

I know.

A simple exchange. Her words were stilled, gone was that snark and sass he had grown accustomed to. It was… a relief.

Lira arrived at that point, noting the signals sent to her, and offered them the hot beverage. Jun held it, allowing the warmth to seep in as he looked outside.

“I’ve prepared your things Mi lord. And you, Lady Mei.” She bowed and Jun nodded. School. That’s what he needed to focus on.