Jade Shards by Fonda Lee

Author:Fonda Lee [Lee, Fonda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781645241270
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: 2023-07-18T06:00:00+00:00

That evening, Kehn gave the news to Wen as if delivering an unwanted court summons. “Kaul Hilo’s going to ask you out sometime. He asked our permission already.” He didn’t smile as he said it. “I said it was okay. What else could I do?”

Wen managed not to react much in the moment, but her eyes widened.

“Don’t read too much into it, it’s just a first date. Just because he sees you every day and is friendly to you doesn’t mean you should get carried away with ideas.” Kehn was always reasonable and even-tempered. Wen noticed that Tar, who was usually the talkative one, was staying conspicuously silent. “Remember, he has plenty of women to choose from, and whether he ends up liking you or not, it’s going to become awkward. Think of us, too, and don’t make a fuss, no matter what happens.”

Wen ran into her room, threw herself onto the bed, and screamed into a pillow so her brothers and mother couldn’t hear. She knew they were acting out of a mixture of self-interest and misguided kindness by trying to lower her expectations, but they weren’t seeing things clearly. Kehn and Tar followed Kaul Hilo because he wasn’t a man of half measures. So why would he be any different in this situation? Why would the future Horn of No Peak risk any sort of discord with his closest Fists and the disapproval of his own family unless he felt strongly? It would be much easier for him to have any other woman that caught his eye. No, Kehn was wrong. This date was no casual test; it was the most important thing to ever happen to her.

Nevertheless, Wen went about feigning pleasant equanimity, though she lived in a state of maddening suspense for the next thirty-six hours until Firstday morning, when, as usual, Hilo rolled up to their house in his Duchesse Tourna and honked the horn for Kehn and Tar. When he saw Wen coming out the door behind her brothers, his eyes lit up. Wen felt her heart catch inside her throat, although she smiled perfectly normally.

“Wen,” Hilo called out. “Are you busy on Fifthday evening?” When she said she wasn’t, his smile grew. The warmth of it shot through her like a bolt of lightning on a clear day. “I’ll come pick you up.” He said it so blithely, as if it were something he’d done before, that as they drove away, she nearly had a hard time believing he’d said it at all.

Wen went to the herbalist’s store. “I’m suffering from stress and anxiety,” she told the woman behind the counter. “Is there anything you can give me to help me relax and sleep better?” She left the store with special tea leaves and a packet of dark powder.

On Thirdday afternoon, she ambushed Vang Suya at the bus stop near the woman’s workplace. “Miss Vang?” Wen exclaimed, jumping up from the bench where she’d been pretending to wait for the same bus. “What a surprise to run into you like this.

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