The Emperor's Daiyu (BWAM)

30) Impatient

Xiang

"Now. I would like to get back to my party? Wouldn't you?" Ali sits down and snaps for the music to play again.
It wasn't a question.
It was a demand.

Cautiously, I sit beside him defying the seating arrangements that he had set in stone for the banquet. I needed to sit beside him and discuss the trade treaty.

"Jealousy seeps from the Qin dynasty." Ali sings, huffing in a heavy ball of smoke from his pipe.

"Just a misunderstanding" I mutter.

"Only on your end I assume?" he fights back.
I bite my tounge and look away. Rage was all I saw as I thought of Mei Li and her insolence. She would pay but I would worry about that later.

He guides the conversation to a more selfish one. "I can count as you as an ally? I mean, with circumstances surrounding—-"

"Circumstances?" I interrupted him.

"Well the circumstances are clear? The Daiyu was my gift. A crown on her head is best here Xiang, don't you think? She's a pretty girl" he hums. He saw my weakness and pierced into it.

"Tell the empress thank you for the gift but I regretfully must decline. You can garner up a fitting reason."

"Of course" I say coldly.

"I at least would like to hear my gift. I want to hear the famous songs of the Daiyu" he says nonchalantly.

"I'm getting tired of your idle prattle and insignificant banter. You're prolonging my temperance.
Sign it." I slammed the papers beside is table side, making the whole table shake.

He stares foward and continues to observe the scene.

"Fine have it your way.
I own the Eastern province. That includes your neighboring borders and the townships. I refuse to beg for insignificant landscapes such as yours."

I saw his mouth twitch but he said nothing.

"Guards" I snapped, standing up from the table.
They gather to my feet and bow.

"Gather my things, ready the cart and escort my Daiyu to the carriage. I'm impatient to leave"
King Ali refused to meet my eyes. I didn't care for him. Not after what he had done to my Daiyu.

He knew what he had lost.
And what I had been so foolish to overlook.
My Daiyu held no power in my dynasty and that was my biggest folly.
I would make her my queen.

——

I refused to let my Daiyu out my sights. She laid her head against my chest as she stares out the window into the distance. The carriage passed by a few small towns an neighboring provinces.

"1000x apologies and I will still feel inadequate"

"It is not your fault Xiang. It is the fault of your jealous empress."

"How... why? I didn't know her hatred for you was so deep" I press my lips against her forehead before I relishing in every feature of her beautiful profile.

She rests her head against my chest once more, her soft breaths soothing me to ecstasy.

I knew of a way to get her Mei Li back. She would pay for her disrespect.
She must.