Chapter 58: Playful Mia
The gate clicked shut behind him, and the quiet of the courtyard swallowed the noise of the square.
Kian found Feimei standing in the open doorway of the main room.
The tea cup from earlier sat empty on the floor beside her bare feet.
"What was that disturbance?" she asked. "The Qi moved like a flood, it doesn’t seem to be a good sign. Did some high level cultivator have a breakthrough?"
Kian crossed the courtyard and stepped past her into the house.
The lantern in the main room had burned low, casting long shadows over the table where Jia had been drooling minutes before.
Now she was gone—along with Mia and Jiao Yin.
The living room was empty and silent now.
Kian’s gaze seearched for them as he replied: "A servant from the Jinguan Sect triggered a Heavenly Qi Baptism in the market square," he said, keeping his voice low.
"Dude jumped four stages in less than an hour before the guards broke it. He killed one of his own sect members and almost drew steel on the city captain."
He shook his head. "That’s going to be a wild rumor soon. Things were pretty fun. You could have come with me if you wanted to see it."
"One cultivator had to stay back just in case something goes wrong, right?"
Kian glanced toward the hallway where the girls’ rooms lay. He noticed that Jia and Jiao Yin were sleeping together in one of the beds they had prepared.
Then, his eyes moved to his room where he had made Mia sleep.
His eyes lit up.
Mia was hugging his pillow, deep in her own sleep.
"I should join her," Kian said.
He was tempted to go sleep with Jia and Jiao Yin, but deep down, Kian had to agree that he loved to sleep with Mia the most. She’d always enter his clothes and waking up like that was a fun thing.
He was about to go into the room when Feimei smiled.
"She was calling out your name in sleep, trying to hug you. So I might as well not interrupt."
"Really?"
Feimei rolled her eyes. "Well, let the poor girl sleep. Don’t disturb her."
Kian grinned and threw a look over his shoulder. "She’s my woman. If she’s calling my name in her sleep, the least I can do is answer."
Feimei shook her head, chuckling as she pulled up a book to read.
Taking the chance, Kian slipped into the room before Feimei could roll her eyes again.
The door clicked shut behind him, soft and final.
The room was dim, lit only by the faint glow of a single spirit-stone lantern on the bedside table.
Mia lay curled on her side, the pillow crushed against her chest, her black hair a dark river across the sheets. Her breathing was slow and even. Totally asleep.
Kian crept toward the bed. She looked peaceful. Innocent, even. He leaned down, meaning to press a kiss to her temple and slide in beside her without waking her.
Then her eyes opened. Just a sliver. The faintest gleam of awareness through her lashes.
Kian stopped mid-lean, then pressed his nose against hers. "You little liar. You’ve been awake this whole time."
Mia didn’t move, didn’t blink. But the corner of her mouth twitched—the tiniest betrayal of a smile she couldn’t quite suppress.
Her voice came out sleepy-rough, barely a whisper. "Maybe. Or maybe I just woke up when you opened the door like a bull."
"Feimei said you were calling my name."
Her cheeks flushed, visible even in the low light. She buried half her face in the pillow. "Mother talks too much."
Kian chuckled and dropped onto the bed beside her, bouncing the mattress hard enough to make her squeak.
He pulled her against his chest before she could squirm away, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his nose into her hair.
"What were you dreaming about?"
Mia laughed, a bright, breathless sound that she tried to smother against his chest.
"Nothing. Go back to the other bed."
She squirmed, planting her palms flat against his shoulders and pushing with surprising strength.
"Trying to escape? Impossible."
When that didn’t budge him, she twisted like a cat, trying to wriggle free from the cage of his arms.
He didn’t let go.
She felt ticklish all over and laughed even more, but didn’t stop trying to escape.
"Take this kick!" she said. "Huha! Mia Super Kick!"
Her leg came up next, aiming for his belly under the sheets. He caught her ankle without looking, his fingers circling the delicate bone with casual ease.
"Dirty fighter," he murmured. "But sadly, surprise attack has no effect on me."
She huffed and tried her other leg, a wild kick that landed squarely in his waiting palm.
He seized that ankle too, spreading her legs apart and holding them aloft with a grip she couldn’t break.
Out of balance, her head fell back on his lap.
"Ouch!"
Mia blushed.
Kian looked down, amazed at the beautiful view.
The position left her completely exposed—the thin sleeping robe bunched high around her hips, the pale span of her inner thighs catching the lantern’s glow, and at their apex, the soft cotton of her underwear doing very little to hide anything from his delighted gaze.
"Mmm." Kian’s eyes roamed over her with undisguised appreciation, drinking in the sight. "This is much better than whatever you were dreaming about."
She made a strangled sound, her cheeks flooding crimson. "Mia Shake!"
She tried to shake her legs to escape, but it was useless.
He just tilted his head, still holding her legs apart like he was studying a painting he meant to buy, and grinned down at her.
"You are too strong! Let go of my ankle~"
She wiggled her toes playfully.
"Let me," he said, looking in between her legs.
Mia’s eyebrows shot up. Her struggles stopped, replaced by wide-eyed curiosity.
"Let you? Let you what?"