where the thorns grow

CHAPTER FIFTEEN,

CHAPTER FIFTEEN | WHERE THE THORNS GROW

  BUT RHYS HAD no time to dwell on that realisation, because she truly had much more important things to worry about. Dinner that night was a bore, she just sat there and looked pretty and cold while everyone else had fun around her, as was requested by Irina a few minutes before the dinner began.

  And it wasn't as if she could confront Irina over something that happened so long ago, that she had no evidence for. And even if she did, what would change? It was one of those situations, Rhys decided, tha she'd been talking about, where you were truly better off not knowing. And now look at her.

  Dom, besides her, was chatting politely to an Arecian woman. Najun, Rong'en and the other girls had all been hired at entertainment tonight. A group were performing a dance right now, and Rhys leaned back to watch it. Najun suddenly appeared on her right, holding a bottle of alcohol, gesturing towards Rhys' empty cup. She sighed and relented.

  As Najun kneeled down to pour her her drink, the girl whispered, "When's Tang Jun coming back?"

  Hopefully never. "Not sure," Rhys lied. "If you have a message for him, we can pass it on."

  Najun shook her head. "I assume you'll all be too busy to head to Lan Chun Ge for the next while? No need to reserve the room for you all on weekends?"

  Rhys nodded. "Don't be expecting any of us for a while. If we meet, well, it'll be in here, not out there." Within palace walls, where Najun and her colleagues would be visiting regularly.

  Najun straightened, picking up the vial of alcohol. "I'll see you around, Briar." And the girl vanished into the crowd. It was already starting to get messy and only the Arecians were here. So far the mood was still relaxed, all things quite informal. The Arecians were friends. Irina and Stephen were trying to get to know each other better, conversing quietly near the front of the room. The Emperor and Empress of Sai watched over everything with hawkish eyes. They hadn't been very involved with the country's matter for a long time, but it didn't mean they weren't kept updated on everything little thing that happened.

  And it was their adoptive daughter getting married, after all. They had to have some thoughts in their own mind going on right now.

  Dom turned to her as the lady stood and left, one brow raised. "Najun?"

  "Wanted to know when Ronan was coming back." Rhys scratched her neck. "I'm not a genius, I don't know. And I told her to not need to reserve the room for us for the next few weeks. Not like anyone of us will find the time to go."

  Dom nodded. "Yeah. Makes sense. The Arecians were easy to handle. The people coming later, that's the headache." He sighed. "Our trouble starts tomorrow, Rhys, not today."

  "Cheers to that, I suppose." Rhys raised her cup. Dom reluctantly raised his before they both downed their drink. "Calm before the storm, we're used to living in that state permanently, eh?"

  Dom snorted. "Unfortunately."

  Rhys said, "It comes with the job. We can handle this."

  "I'm not the one doing all sorts of li qi actions."

  Rhys rolled her eyes. "I'm not doing anything ridiculous, and we are not starting this conversation in the middle of a banquet."

  Dom said, "Well, the Meliqueans arrive tomorrow and you still haven't told me what's going on, so I do think we need to start this conversation sooner or later. We're partners. We get into trouble together, Rhys, you forgot that already?"