EMPEROR AND I

LADY WEI LI LIAN

PRINCESS LE-ANNE

"My Lady, General Feng gave strict orders for you not to go alone, please let me go with you at least." Ai pleaded with the princess. Earlier, one of General Feng"s men had delivered a package which consisted of a map and a small note. It looked like the man who had stolen her pendant had caught on with the rumours about how the person who found her precious pendant will be rewarded accordingly.

I"M WILLING TO NEGOTIATE ABOUT THE PENDANT. MEET ME AT SUNSET ON THE MARKED SPOT.

LAVENDER

He had signed the small note with "Lavender" as his way of a.s.suring her that it was not a trap. Only the two of them knew the meaning behind it. He was smart and calculative, the more reason she had to go before he started making other plans concerning her pendant.

The package had been found on the doorstep of one of the men General Feng had in charge of helping to find her pendant. General Feng had exceeded her expectations by being quite resourceful. He had also sent strict instructions notifying her that if she wished to go, she should take his men with.

"Ai if I go with General Feng"s men the chances of things going wrong are high." She tied the white cloth at the back of her head, and it fell, covering the middle of her face. She was wearing the same exact white silks she wore when at the Dura Mountain camp to make recognition easier for him.

After gathering the package and her sword, she prepared for departure. She told Mistress Han that she had personal issues to attend to and asked for one of the manor"s horses.

The map led her to a dracaena cannabari tree that stood by the river. The access was covered and hidden by shrubs that a pa.s.sing person who was not familiar with the place or had a map like she did would not notice the pathway. The waters were calm and shallow because of the approaching summer season; only after a few moons have pa.s.sed would it rain.

Summer… the season that stole Nameless.

Waiting was a mundane job. Princess Le-anne stood up, sat down, walked around, played with the waters, threw stones and still after that long list of activities n.o.body came. It was getting dark and she was getting frustrated and irritant.

"Who dares to fool me?" she resounded from within.

"Enjoying the view?" a raspy voice came from behind and instinctively she placed her hand on the sword that was slung on her back.

She turned around to an all-black figure that leisurely sat on his black andalusian horse. It was also purely black with no stripe of colour on its coat and more than that it was fiercely huge and intimidating like the owner.

"You are late." She retorted and a coquettish smile played on his lips. Judgement of his looks was barely possible as the hat of his black cloak fell up to his nose. All she could see was his defined jaw and soft full lips.

"Women who wait are the most beautiful." He chuckled and slid off his domineering horse with virtuoso. She did not expect that him standing before her would have some effect on her like the last time. His body towered over her, making me feel so small and vulnerable.

"And thieves are the most unattractive," she sneered.

"Is My Lady talking for the both of us?"

"You..." A fist p.r.o.nounced on her hand. "Where is my pendant?" She pulled out a pouch that was hefty with gold and threw it to his feet, that way she could easily get her money back if he did not cooperate.

"How disrespectful." He pulled out the pendant and her ruby stone danced around in the air as he held it up. "I am a wealthy guy and money is worthless to me... What to do?" He bogusly sighed with a look of boredom. His voice was a beautiful melody of symphony, she could listen to it all day if garbage did not come from his mouth.

"What do you want?"

"You," he said it shamelessly without thinking twice and she fell into a ball of laughter. She had never met a man who was that obscene and direct.

"Seems like the woman from the other night did not do her job right in satisfying your wild desires." She taunted him. "What sort of cheap brothel did you visit?"

"Although I have dozens of women... few are suitable for my taste." He took a step forward, indicating how serious he actually was. There were a thousand reasons why she was not going to agree to his request.

"You have not seen me yet," she countered.

"What is there to see?" His hand reached for her head and slowly he ran his hand down her long hair. She had pinned a few strands into a knot so that they would not fall onto her face while the rest of her hair lay on her back. He was being too forward but somehow it did not seem to bother her. He pulled out two of her silver pins and her hair naturally fell on her face. It intrigued her how he was not making an attempt to pull down the cloth that veiled half of her face, not that she would let him.

He let go of her and his hands automatically crossed on his back. Something about his movements gave an aura of superiority. He was not careless with his speech, although he was disrespectful in not using honorifics.

To be more precise, he possessed an air of n.o.bility around him.

"I promise to give back your pendant after our pa.s.sionate night," he smirked. Determination laced his voice and she knew prolonging everything would be the only way to go about in attaining her pendant.

S.V