Wu Hao's breathing sounded loud even in his own ears. His throat felt hot and his face seemed almost to be on fire. Heat pooled over his cheeks, burning lava boiling its way through his head.

  "I don't -"

  "You do," Lady Jin said, studying him. "Otherwise you wouldn't have reacted like this."

  Jin Qilong stood there openmouthed, fish-like, mouth closing as the implications sank in. "He's a sensor?"

  Struggling to get his emotions under control, Wu Hao felt his hands clench and unclench like they were under someone else's control. Droplets of sweat beaded off his neck, running down his back. It seemed impossible to speak, but finally he did.

  "How long?" he croaked. "How long have you known?"

  "Since we first met," Lady Jin said casually. "Beforehand, even. How could you know which were the right peaches to pick? How could you have known which bandit to target? Simple questions, equally simple to answer. You're a sensor."

  She fanned herself slightly.

  "Although, I'll be honest - I wasn't really sure until you came to us with the news that you'd stolen from the library. That confirmed it for me."

  "How?" he asked.

  "Did you really think just anyone could have stolen from the library?" she asked him. "I've watched those self-same arrays incinerate a full-grown man. Even if they'd been weakened by time and by age and by lacking materials, there are limits."

  Wu Hao's nails dug into his palms. He said nothing.

  If, as she'd said, she suspected since the first moment they'd met...

  "That long?" he said bitterly. "You let me go days, even weeks, believing you didn't know?"

  "Don't look so angry with me. You're bad at hiding it. I won't deny it was a little amusing, but no more than that. Besides..."

  She smiled a little, the war fan in her hand cracking open.

  "It's a valuable talent," she said, and smiled at him. "Very useful. I suppose it's yet to be seen how good of a sensor you are. What does qi appear like to you?"

  "Why should I tell you?" he asked.

  "Scent?" she asked as if she hadn't heard him, and yet her tone wasn't entirely casual. A faint hint of perfumed qi began to leak through into the surroundings from her skin. "Colors? Some combination, perhaps? What else can you tell? Emotions?"

  Jin Qilong had a look of wide-eyed horror, especially because Wu Hao kept his mouth resolutely shut.

  She reached out with a single hand, letting a tendril of qi reach forwards at great speeds, a thick line that formed itself into a hook. The thick scent of a soft, indistinct perfume tickled Wu Hao's nose, the near-transparent wind stretching until it had reached his throat.

  "Which is it for you?" she asked again, pushing the qi up just a little. Wu Hao had to lift his chin not to feel the qi straddle around his neck from all sides, a collar building itself out of nothing whenever Lady Jin's fingers twitched only to deconstruct itself whenever her finger twitched again. He raised himself to the tips of his toes, but the sensation was everywhere, and he was hemmed in.

  "Mother," Jin Qilong said, pushing his way forward, stepping physically into the conversation. "There's no need for this. Stop it. You too, Wu Hao."

  "And why should I?" Lady Jin said. "It's a simple question, Qilong. All he needs to do is answer it."

  But Jin Qilong didn't back down. Wu Hao felt a sudden rush of what might have been affection, and he was sure that it hadn't simply been the lightheadedness.

  "We will discuss this later," she finally said. "Without the help present."

  Jin Qilong sagged, almost falling over himself against the railing, and Wu Hao did the same as the qi that'd been choking him fell away.

  "Don't call -"

  "Do not push me any further," Lady Jin said quietly, and Jin Qilong's mouth clicked shut so fast that it didn't seem like it'd been his own idea. He rubbed at his jaw, wincing.

  A long moment of silence hung in the pavillion. And yet whereas he himself had been useless, Jin Qilong had managed to cow his mother, at least for now. That was... respectable. Impressive, even. Wu Hao had underestimated the young master significantly.

  Lady Jin broke the silence, after thinking it over carefully, or at least giving a show of doing so.

  "You wonder why I asked," she allowed. Wu Hao took a breath when he realized she was taking a small step back.

  "Yes," Wu Hao said, and after a look from Jin Qilong that was surprisingly stern, he added: "Yes, Lady Jin."

  "Because it determines whether you'll be stuck as a captain of the Red Saber Battalion or rise higher," Lady Jin said. "A sensor who can sense faint traces of qi is a useful talent, combined with your seeming affinity for cultivation. A sensor who can tell lie from truth, as I suspect you can, is a game changer in negotiations and in a dozen other scenarios."

  "What?" Wu Hao asked, the anger that had been brewing in him shifting. "What do you -"

  "You have talent," Lady Jin said, and shrugged. Her earlier anger seemed more or less forgotten, but Wu Hao knew better. She was just waiting for a better opportunity to plant a knife in his gut. "You will put it to use for us. It is an opportunity."

  He stared at her.

  "The Red Saber Battalion is one of the most elite forces in the clan," she said. "And therefore one of the most elite forces on the continent. Rejoice. It's rare outsiders get a chance to join."

  "An opportunity?" he asked. "And what if I don't want it?"

  "Then why," Lady Jin asked, "did you bring the White Tiger Core to me at all, boy? What did you think you were doing except applying for a position?"

  His fists clenching, Wu Hao wondered why this didn't seem an opportunity. Perhaps it was because she hadn't given him a choice at all.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Now," she said. "Boy. Here is what you'll do. Tomorrow I will be sending Wang Hangsheng, together with a representative from the blacksmiths, to go figure out if the reports that Prefect Shi has presented us are true. The mines are a few hours' travel by carriage away from here - far enough that I won't bother to spare the time, near enough that you'll be back in two days."

  Wu Hao nodded tersely.

  "You will go with them," she ordered.

  "I don't know anything of mines," Wu Hao snapped. "What am I supposed to do there?"

  Lady Jin's qi hissed at him, forming itself into tight loops as her jaw clenched. Maybe at rest she and her son didn't look much alike, but while angry they apparently did. She hadn't been joking about her dislike for disrespect, either. He could see from her core that she'd been close to loosening her restraints.

  "You're there for the people, not the mines. Check to see if you detect martial artists there and where their trails lead. There shouldn't be any there, except perhaps a guard or the like. I expect a thorough report."

  She paused, some distaste marring her expression.

  "You can write, yes? At least the basics?"

  Wu Hao nodded once, tersely. Thanks to all the knowledge that'd been stuffed into his head he could write array patterns better than he could write letters, and he'd never been able to manage more than the most basic characters, but he could write.

  "Good. Do not leave Wang Hangsheng's sight. I will give him additional orders, to deal with any insubordination as he sees fit. He will report on your conduct as well. He will not kill you, but he has my authorization to make you wish for death. You have been playing around, but now it is time for serious work. When it concerns my profits, I do not tolerate failure."

  Wang Hangsheng nodded. His dark, heavy presence hung over the surroundings like a cloud.

  "Yes, Lady Jin," Wu Hao muttered.

  "Then go," Lady Jin ordered. "You leave at dawn."

  "Lady Jin," he said. If she did want him to be part of her forces, then she could at least do something for him, right?

  She sighed. "Yes, child?"

  "I'm to be ambushed tonight," he said. "By Shan Kong, Zhu Yelin, and Li Yanqing."

  A perfectly shaped eyebrow curved up in surprise; she sighed. Jin Qilong wanted to say something, but his mother fixed a stare on him and that, combined with the fact his mouth was still fixed shut with her qi, made his desperate attempts to speak all the more silent.

  "Is that so?" she asked.

  "Yes," Wu Hao ground out. "I've sensed them. They're connected to Shi Huyin somehow. They'll try to attack me tonight."

  "I can't imagine why," Lady Jin said. Her voice was light, but the sarcasm was not. "You've a gift for making friends."

  "I can kill all three of them," Wu Hao stated, his voice unwavering. "I will kill all three."

  "Three martial artists of the same level?" she asked. "Ambitious."

  Not the same level, Wu Hao thought. Those three weren't on the same level as him at all. It was an arrogant thought, but he felt it in his gut as well as his memories. Especially if he managed to bend the battleground to his own benefit, as he'd done last time.

  "And?" she asked.

  "Keep Shan Guoxi off my back," Wu Hao asked. "I can't go to the mines if I'm dead, can I?"

  There, he thought. By the narrowing of her eyes he knew that he'd just scored himself a point. Not much of one, perhaps, but it was something, at least.

  "Very well," Lady Jin said, and waved a hand. "Li Yanqing's father is of no consequence, and I don't even remember who the third boy is."

  "Zhu Yelin," Jin Qilong muttered. "The one I duelled yesterday. Grandson of the man you killed in the duel this week."

  "Oh," Lady Jin said, and considered this. "It's a deal, then. Kill them all. If you come to me asking for help, I won't give you an inch. Show me if you're capable of fulfilling your promises. In return, you'll officially have left after dinner today and Shan Guoxi will be kept occupied. You understand, I'm sure."

  That was the best he was going to get.

  "Yes, Lady Jin."

  "In a way, this is your first mission as a possible trainee for the Battalion," she said. "Do not fail or you'll suffer the same punishment as anyone fully in the corps would, for killing others within the clan outside official duels."

  Those bright eyes glanced away from him, returning to the table. "Now leave us. My son and I - we have much to discuss. Don't we, my little dragon?"

  She almost cooed the last sentence, a sickly sweet tone that set Wu Hao's teeth on edge.

  "I'm not going anywhere," Wu Hao said. Jin Qilong had stood up for him, and he would repay the favor.

  "Wang Hangsheng," Lady Jin said, and turned away from Wu Hao. "Show him where he'll have to be tomorrow morning."

  "Yes, Lady Jin."

  With a flicker of movement, Wang Hangsheng stepped up next to Wu Hao. His qi swirled, turned, his hand landed on Wu Hao's shoulder, there was another sensation of moving and falling and being carted like a sack of rice through space he didn't really occupy -

  He landed on unsteady feet on the road outside the pavillion. Wang Hangsheng let go and Wu Hao fought not to have his knees buckle underneath him. Instead he turned towards Jin Qilong in the distance, taking a step closer.

  But Jin Qilong's eyes turned towards him and he shook his head, once. He mouthed something, and while Wu Hao could read qi he couldn't read lips.

  "You heard her," Wang Hangsheng said. "Go."

  His hand shoved Wu Hao forward, sending him further down the road. It wasn't a qi-empowered shove, but Wu Hao tottered anyway. Emotions ran through him with a distinct acrid tang of disappointment.

  This was technically a victory. He had lost nothing except his temper and maybe the time he'd lose on the trip. He'd won two days of freedom from the compound, looking at it one way.

  But he still felt like utter shit.