Page 68 of Night's Reckoning
“Meaning you can’t just grab what you want and take off with it?”
“We never destroyed things.” Cheng’s voice was sharp. “Those ships are the graves of my allies and enemies. I do not desecrate the resting place of the dead.”
“But neither were you going to let their riches rot beneath the waves.” She swung her legs back and forth. “I don’t suppose you set up a square-meter grid over it and meticulously documented every shell you found?”
“No, we did not.” He pulled on a shirt and walked over to sit next to her. “Why is your father watching us, Cricket?”
“I don’t know.” She was tempted to fly back and find out but wasn’t sure she wanted to spend the day in the same house as her sire. He always wanted to talk about her life. It was annoying. “I can call Jinpa.”
“Jinpa won’t know.” Cheng lifted her feet and rubbed her ankles. “You didn’t ask him to come?”
“Does that sound like something I’d do?”
“Maybe if you didn’t trust those you were working with…” Cheng gripped her ankles in firm hands. “Don’t you trust me?”
She pulled her feet back and sat up slowly. “Exactly as much as you trust me.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “So Zhang is there for his own purposes, whatever they might be.”
“Maybe he just wants to get some peace and quiet from court life. You know he gets annoyed with how visible he is there.”
“Tell the truth. If he weren’t so committed to peaceful regional government, he’d go back to the plains, wouldn’t he?”
“Of course he would. Why do you think he’s been trying to convince me to take his place on the court for so many years?”
“You would never.”
“No, and he knows it.” She walked to the windows that overlooked an expanse of ocean. She could see the lights of the nearest island in the distance. “How are you going to keep others away? There’s no chance we haven’t been spotted.”
“I have my people stationed on the islands around us,” Cheng said. “They’re keeping an ear out for rumors, and I’ve sent couriers to both Sina in New Zealand and Jimmu in Okinawa. Jimmu has already sent word back to Jonathan that he respects our claim on the wreck since we’re working for Zhang. I haven’t heard from Sina yet.”
“I don’t know her, but guessing by her reputation, she won’t be interested.”
“Agreed. She’s too focused on what’s happening with the humans in her area right now.” Cheng followed Tenzin to the windows. “No one wants a war.”
“Wrong,” Tenzin said. “There are some who would welcome it. Some old powers who are hungry for the chance.”
“Does that include you?”
Tenzin took her time answering. “A hundred years ago, I would have said yes. I was hungry for anything violent then.”
“I remember.”
“But not now. There are too many things that interest me in this world. I’d rather spend my time exploring it. There is YouTube now. You can learn anything from anyone. Anywhere in the world. And video games. I very much like video games. Especially the racing ones.”
“You are a strange, strange creature, Cricket.”
“Also, I really want to get to my mountains.”
Cheng smiled. “Are you ever going to show me your secret retreat?”
“No.”
“I think you would show the human.”
Tenzin contemplated the idea. Would she take Ben to Tibet? Would she show him her refuge and the valley where she was worshipped as a god? The last human who had lived there with her had been Nima. The last vampire who had been welcome was…
No one. Though her father had found her there, he was not welcome. It wasn’t his place.
