Bonded

Chapter Sixty One

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India

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No matter how many times the two of us have made this journey before...

Somehow this evening... Sneaking out of the room with Jian seems so much more scandalous this time... Even if it is not for romantic purposes this time...

This is not Jian sneaking away to sit with his future husband in the kitchen so that the two of them might have a few moments almost alone... Supervised by me and the kitchen staff and no one else... Unbothered by lessons or learning or teaching...

This is the two of us sneaking away to warn one of the master scholars that whatever or whoever he is sneaking ink away for may just cost him his life...

And all due to the King's new interest...

One that we both are hoping he gives up on or forgets about sooner rather than later... Preferably both...

All of the thoughts swirling around in my head make it so much harder to focus on actually dressing quietly enough to not wake anyone else... Not that our peers have ever told on us for slipping away before... In some instances, some of them have even accompanied us...

They just are not welcome to come with us tonight... For their own safety... As well as our own... And I do not think either of us is quite savvy enough to try and explain why none of them can come with us this evening without divulging our newly acquired secrets.

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Kavya

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I feel as though I wish to bring my hand up to my mouth to try and pull away parts of my nails like I used to do when nerves struck... But it would feel as though I would be insulting my husband as Ronin had aided me for years to alleviate the nasty habit...

It is just that in moments of great stress that I find myself wishing that I had some kind of vice to calm me just like that poor habit had for so many centuries...

I am not sure why my nerves are so jumpy at the moment...

Not when I have known for most of the day that Ronin and I had every intention to show up right where we are outside of India's door... Waiting so that we might escort our wife and his delightful friend to the kitchens so that we might keep them safe while we all warn Master Qiao that him helping me could possibly end up causing him more than just inconvenient trouble...

They just are... Though I have a sneaking suspicion that my nervousness may be creeping so much more deeply into my bones due to needing to wait for India and Jian to actually make their appearance...

Before we left India earlier neither one of us had thought to ask about what time he and Jian would be sneaking away to meet Master Qiao... Our wife had simply mentioned that they would arrange things with the Master Scholar when they saw things at the evening meal... Though how they managed such a conversation I do not think I would want to know at the moment...

Not with how much more I've found out today that I wish my ears had never heard...