Deeply tricky, too. Rule contemplated that as he sipped.
This time, the consumption of tea seemed to settle Lily, though she hadn’t quite emptied her cup when the first question emerged, shaped as a statement. “I wish I knew where Sam went. What he’s up to.”
Li Qin spread one hand gracefully. “Perhaps he is up to something, as you say, at this moment. Perhaps he left simply so he would not be tempted to steer our conversation.”
“He did advise us to confer among ourselves. He thinks we can stir up enough answers to get started that way.” Lily frowned at her almost empty cup. “Do you know where Grandmother is? What she’s up to?”
“I do not. Sam said she is hidden.”
“That doesn’t mean she isn’t up to something.” Lily took a final sip of tea and put down her cup. “Maybe we could start the conferring by you telling us the rest of the story about Grandmother and the Chimei. You said that Sam—Sun Mzao—hoped she would stop the demon somehow. How?”
“The Chimei had taken as lover a young sorcerer, who had in turn taken control of the city. While Li Lei was in the mountains, studying with Sam, this sorcerer caused the deaths of her entire family.”
“Bloody—” Rule stopped himself from finishing the oath. “Excuse me. But . . . she was only seventeen, you said.”
“Seventeen when she went to Sam. Nineteen when her family was slain.”
“She killed the sorcerer?” Rule asked.
Li Qin nodded. “Though I do not know the details, I know Li Lei returned to Luan with that intention, and she succeeded.” She put her own cup down. “I have heard pieces of this story over many years. The questions I now wish to ask were not what seemed most important in earlier days. Li Lei never spoke easily of that time, so I did not press her.”
Lily’s fingers tapped once on the table. “She didn’t explain when she asked you to take refuge with Sam?”
“She said she was unable to. She was clearly frustrated by this.”
“This treaty Sam talked about stopped her from talking about it now, but it didn’t stop her before.”
“So I assume. I do not know.”
Rule said, “Sam spoke of intent as a factor.”
Lily’s gaze flicked to him. “He did, didn’t he?”
“I cannot claim to know another’s full intent,” Li Qin said placidly. “However, I do not think she told me anything so I would be able to act against the Chimei, should the need arise. I would say her motives were quite personal.”
“Hmm.” Lily’s fingers drummed on the table again. “But Grandmother did kill the sorcerer who killed her family. You’re sure of that.”
“Li Lei is certain of it.”
“The thing is, it looks like the Chimei . . . Does she have a name?”
Li Qin turned her palms up. “I do not know it. Could any being not possess a name?”
“I don’t know. Dammit, I left my notebook in the car. Never mind,” she said to Rule when he started to rise. “I’ll take notes later. What I mean to say, Li Qin, is that it looks like our Chimei has hooked up with a sorcerer again. That’s not definite, but it’s a strong possibility.”
“Ah. No, I do not believe this could be the same sorcerer. However, many folktales speak of men who unknowingly take a demon or spirit as wife or concubine. This is a common theme. I mentioned this to Li Lei recently, thinking it was funny to assume a spirit would wish for a human wife. She said she didn’t know about spirits, but for a demon, mating with a human was the only way to be in flesh.”
“In flesh?”
Li Qin tilted her head, considering that. “No, I believe ‘in body’ would be closer. Her words were zài shen ti. It’s an odd phrase, which is why it stayed with me. At the time, I thought she made a naughty play on words—to be in a body, to be in a woman. Now I wonder if she meant this physicality Sam spoke of.”
Lily glanced at Rule. “Shen ti is like body or health. Zài sort of means in, but not exactly. You’d use it to say you were in a location, or in the middle of doing something. Or if you use it a different way, it just means to be, to exist. So that fits. It works.”
He nodded. “You think the Chimei’s bond with her lover is necessary for her to . . . How did Sam put it? To reconstitute her physical portion.”
“Sure sounds possible. Sex magic is an old tradition, and if she always picks a sorcerer for a mate, it may be she needs him to do a ritual or something. We can ask Cullen what he thinks later.” She looked at Li Qin again. “Do you know if, when Grandmother killed the . . . Shit.” Her phone had chimed. “I’m surprised I’ve got reception out here.”
Li Qin smiled. “Oh, Sam arranged for me to have bars here. He did not want me to feel isolated. I think, too, he is curious about technology and wished to see if he could do this.”
Lily flung her a startled glance, but whatever number she saw on the phone’s display had her answering crisply, “Lily Yu.”
“Sam is able to boost coverage for a cell phone?” Rule asked Li Qin. He didn’t precisely listen to Lily’s conversation while he spoke to Li Qin, but he didn’t precisely not listen, either. He felt a frisson of displeasure when her caller turned out to be Deputy Cody Beck—and felt annoyed with himself for the annoyance.
“I do not know how it works—but then, I do not know how cell phones work, either.” She smiled. “I believe Sam understands it better than I.”
“There would be a huge commercial potential, if what he does could be duplicated.”
“I do not think Sam approves of money. Not for dragons, at least. He says he does not want his promises scattered all over, nor does he accept promises promiscuously.”
Money as a collective promise? It was an interesting take on the subject. “Still, if he’s found a way to make magic and technology coexist, or even work together . . . hmm.” It gave him something to consider for the favor Nokolai would eventually claim, once they finished negotiating.
Lily disconnected. “We’ve got to go.”
“What’s up?”
“Cody’s found a body for me.”
THE body, it turned out, was already at the Medical Examiner’s.
“So this victim was killed by a single thrust to the heart.” Rule started the car, put it in reverse, and twisted around. He needed to get the vehicle turned around here, where Sam’s landing pad gave him room to maneuver.
Lily clicked her seat belt into place. “Looks like. The responding officers didn’t spot it, but no shame to them. The body was found yesterday, but the victim had been dead awhile. In this heat . . .” She shrugged.
Rule’s nose twitched in sympathy. “They know anything about the victim yet?”
“If so, Cody didn’t have it. Just that the man had been stabbed from behind by a thin blade that penetrated the heart. No suggestion magic was involved, but there wouldn’t be. Um . . . you don’t have to go in with me.”
“I’m perfectly capable of controlling myself.”
“Sure, but you hate that place.”
Rule disliked morgues with both of his natures, but it was the wolf who truly hated them. Rule wasn’t sure why. Wolves weren’t upset by the deaths of strangers, but for some reason, the presence of all those bodies made his wolf anxious. Cemeteries didn’t affect him that way. Just morgues. “I’m not fond of waiting in the car, either.”
“Okay. What about your bodyguards? Going to have them meet us there?”
“They won’t be much help against a killer who could make them think no one was around. Or that you were attacking me.”