Page 3798 -- CCCIX.

Chapter Three Hundred Nine: ‘O, sighing Maiden...’
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What a bother. It was times like these when she wished she wasn’t such a sucker for a pretty face. That Magician of Light was a dangerous boy, indeed. Kept himself nice and young, too.

If only he didn’t have the spirit of an old bore. She would’ve fallen for him years ago, if he acted as youthful as he looked. Hell, she might’ve even allowed herself to age a little in order to give him a child or two. Only a few men over the course of her very long life had ever earned that honor from her. And Xander certainly had both the brains and the beauty to qualify.

Just not that certain x-factor. That spark.

Of course, it might’ve also helped if he didn’t rebuff her every advance, but she was sure she could’ve overcome that little hiccup, given time.

Sai-hee could be a very persuasive woman, after all.

She’d kept her own youth well intact, of course. Of the four emperors, she looked the youngest by far, still in her mid-twenties. Her long, flowing locks would have been black as night if not for their silky sheen, and her unmarred skin was as pale as the moon itself.

She’d been in the midst of dealing with a rather stubborn clew of greatworms when Xander found her. The silly boy had nearly gotten himself killed--or seemed to, at least. Perhaps that had merely been one of his holographic projections. Jun had told her that there was some trick to seeing through them, but she hadn’t really been paying that close attention. That lady, as much as Sai-hee appreciated her, had always had a way of wearing down the patience of her listeners.

But that Sermung was certainly a shrewd one, sending his Magician like that. Only Jackson might have made for a more compelling messenger, but from what she’d heard, that poor fellow was thoroughly indisposed, at the moment. Too bad his bitch wife was too busy to take care of him, for once in her useless life.

Instead, the harpy was here, in the middle of the Luthic Ocean, risking her stupid neck in yet another unwinnable battle.

Ugh. If Xander had mentioned she would be here, Sai-hee might’ve refused him.

Okay, no, she wouldn’t have. But she would’ve wanted to.

The pretty boy had posed his case well. Distracted though she may have been by his oblivious charm, it didn’t change the fact that this was indeed the right move, for a variety of different reasons.