#Truffie just licked my arm

[whatdoyouexpectthistime]

Part 3: Bitch Are You Trippin’?

Part 1: Pride or Clan Part 2: The Hand That Binds

She need not hint any further.

Victor understood, even if his expression said in ice-carved all-caps, “BITCH ARE YOU TRIPPIN’?”

 Okay, no um, the real beginning to Part 3 -cough-

 She need not hint any further.

As if carved from stone, Victor’s expression did not change.

“Hardly the most romantic proposal,” he said finally, and Miho couldn’t help but laugh.

“I would have brought flowers but you don’t seem the type to care for the finer details of wooing. Your father turned mine down when we were just children, but you will not refuse me now because you know this is about no more than the future of both our clans. United, we destroy Lucien.”

“Agreed,” he asserted, and Miho bounced to her feet.

“Rest and recover,” she instructed, heading for the door. “Reinforcements and supplies are already enroute to the needy, and I’ve been informed Lucien has fallen back, no doubt to plot our gruesome demise. I will have attendants bring you breakfast, and do not hesitate to request whatever else you require.”

Miho didn’t wait for thanks, did not expect any under the circumstances, and left Victor to mull over his inescapable future as the Li half of the Fujiwara Clan.

 ________________________________________________

“You look especially pleased with yourself, Lady Miho,” a bright voice announced, and Miho turned to find the youthful face of Kiro beaming at her. “Could it be you’re only just now sneaking from Lord Victor’s quarters after a night of passion?”

“Have you actually met him?” Miho chuckled.

“You make a point,” he giggled, such an innocent sound.

But Miho knew it was all a façade to mask the actuality of his profession.

“Still,” he continued. “There is a certain satisfaction about you which is more than a little incongruent with current events.”

“I take my successes where I can,” she shrugged, moving up at him to plant a light kiss on his cheek. “I hope you’ve brought me some more.”

“You know I love to please you,” he admitted, offering his arm.

“Then do so over breakfast.”

 _______________________________________________

Kiro brought Miho valuable intelligence about secret Xu movements and footholds, after which she conferred with her remaining warlords to map out their strategy. It wasn’t until well into night that Miho called an end to meeting, and she retired to the garden to unwind in peace.

Sighing, she listened to the soft rustle of the wind across the pond, tracking the scoot of a leaf to the other side. Many found the darkness an isolating place - in the unseen depths a fear they cannot name – but the shadows fell around Miho like a comforting shroud.

“You should still be resting,” she said quietly, tilting her chin to the side a little to indicate she knew exactly from where her observer was approaching.

“I have rested enough,” Victor responded, drawing closer until he stood at her side. “Perhaps it is you who should retire.”

At this Miho laughed, and lolled her head to look up at him.

“The night is my friend, Lord Victor, as time is yours,” she explained. “These are not secrets easily concealed.”

“You are a clan of spies,” he agreed. “Secrets are your stock and trade.”

“Well, I am expanding the family business,” she mused, reclining in a relaxed manner, “to include monster slaying.”

“I take it you have a plan?” he prompted, sitting down beside her, just enough space between them to be proper.

“I do.”

The lack of specificity in her answer caused him obvious consternation.

“And you are not going to share it… with your betrothed?”

With raised brows, Miho looked at him.

“Then you accept?”

“As you have pointed out, mine is not a position to be envied,” he reasoned. “I have few options, and if the price of my people’s survival is union with you, then as their lord it is my duty to shoulder that burden.”

“And I am quite the burden,” Miho smirked. “It’s good that you understand that from the beginning. I hope I can trust you to behave yourself in my absence.”

“And where exactly would you be going?” he frowned.

“Bad guys to kill, war to win,” she shrugged. “I leave at dawn.”

“We leave at dawn,” he corrected, and Miho exhaled a heavy breath.

“Yesterday you were at death’s door,” she reasoned. “You’re in no shape to…”

“Be left behind,” he interrupted sternly, but Miho was shaking her head.

“Absolutely not,” she sniffed, getting to her feet. “I need you alive, and I can’t guarantee your survival until I have the means to neutralise Lucien.”

“I do not require your permission,” Victor dropped flatly.

“You require my protection,” she volleyed, matching his frigidity with acid. “Something about you limping through my gates bleeding.”

“If you believe I will allow my wife to ride into battle while I remain behind with the women you are sadly mistaken,” he growled, joining her on his feet.

With her teeth bared, Miho gripped Victor’s left shoulder, and dug the thumb of her other hand into one of his chest wounds. Instantly, Victor doubled over, muttering in pain.

“I cannot use you,” Miho told him firmly, eyes hard and uncompromising. “Not as you are.”

With that she swept away in the direction of her quarters, leaving Victor to contemplate his weakness and his pride in further tatters.

  _______________________________________________

Once more within the privacy of her walls, Miho felt Gavin slip through the shadows and step into the lamplight.

“Are you certain you don’t want him dead?” he snickered.

“In his place I’d be equally as stubborn,” Miho pointed out, pulling her hair free from its tightly wound confinement and sifting her fingers through it.

When she took her brush from the dresser, however, Gavin relieved her of it.

“Why do I feel a lecture in my immediate future?” she grumbled, sitting down with her back to him.

“I would never presume to lecture you, My Lady,” he said, beginning gentle strokes through her long, dark locks.

“Mmmm,” she murmured in bliss, closing her eyes to better enjoy the moment. “But you would presume to keep me from my war with this pacification. Perhaps you’re seeking to send me to early slumber to keep me from other activities?”

Gavin’s movements did not falter.

“Yours is an unfettered privilege, My Lady,” he answered evenly. “You may have whatever you desire.”

“True,” she mused. “But that does not mean I should.”

“My Lady?” he queried, gently coiling her hair at the nape of her neck.

“Your affections for Liana have not escaped my notice these years,” she elaborated easily. “Nor how serious they have become.”

Only now did Gavin put the brush aside, and Miho swivelled to peer up at him from her seat.

“You think the shadows do not whisper to me as the winds do to you?” she laughed. “Please. And you would never say a thing for your loyalty to my family, but your love for her is too important for silence, don’t you think?”

“My loyalty to you,” Gavin corrected seriously.

“Oh, I know neither you nor she would come to my bed if not willing,” she smiled fondly. “But I think the time has come for you to commit yourself to her heart and body, and I know that will not result in your loyalty to me being any more absolute.”

For a few silent seconds they just peered at one another, until Gavin’s brows began to knit. With a short laugh, Miho rose and drew him into a hug. “Don’t be conflicted,” she whispered. “You love me, but you are in love with her, and I am happy for that."

Tightly, he held her to his chest until she pinched him with such severity, he let out a little cry and leapt back.

“As of now, the both of you may no longer enter these quarters without permission,” she asserted. “I leave you to inform Liana and be on your way. You have your orders.”

“My Lady,” Gavin bowed deeply, a slight waver in his voice.

Then he left Miho to get what little sleep she could before her intended departure at dawn.

_______________________________________________ 

 Ibu’s sure-footed canter carried Miho from her stronghold as the world was slowly waking. With her small entourage in tow, they made haste across the valley of undulating farmland and through villages toward the border. Their goal was a small town on the far side of a dense forest, one known to have harboured bandits in the past. Not that Miho was especially concerned about them.

The closer they drew to the limits of her kingdom, the more likely they would be to come across Xu scouts.

She hoped they did.

Unfortunately, it was quiet and uneventful on their journey, and as night closed in around them, their camp settled.

“You’re upset,” Jazz said, giving Miho a bit of a hip-bump before sitting by the fire.

“I know I shouldn’t be, but I am,” Miho sniffed. “Lucien should be taking me much more seriously.”

“He will,” Jazz assured. “Your plan will work.”

“Of course it will,” Miho grunted. “If you have managed to do what no other has.”

“And if I can escape before he kills me,” Jazz added, and Miho grunted again.

“I’ll in place by then,” she assured. “When he is weakened I will rip out his throat.”

“And this is why you have so few friends, My Lady,” Jazz laughed, and in a mock huff Miho stomped from the ring of warmth to where her horse was tethered.

Imagining Lucien’s blood slicking her fingers, she stroked down the mare’s neck, humming a little tune.

Until she wasn’t.

And she wasn’t because she felt something – movement in the darkness that was not the natural wave of the trees or animals skittering around.

In practiced silences she drew her katana and stepped between the slender trunks, placing her feet carefully in the underbrush. There was still time in her evening, it seemed, for her to sate her bloodlust if this interloper belonged to Lucien.

Suddenly, there was something underfoot, and the figure Miho sensed tripped and hit the ground with a rather loud groan for a well-trained spy.

“I should have known,” Miho dropped sourly, planting her boot-heel next to his head, and Victor turned it slowly, cursing himself and her. “This is more than a little inconvenient.”

“I am not some damsel in need of cloistering,” he snapped, laboriously pushing himself back into his knees.

“No,” she agreed, but still didn’t sound any more impressed. “You’re an injured liability.”