You Must Fall In Love

Chapter Twenty-Three

Can I come in, Miss Lam?"

It was old Kang. He was standing at the door, arms folded in his long sleeves, peering through with wet and kind eyes.

Christine took her mind off Rob and gave a little half-bow, because actually her mind was still on Rob.

"Of course, Mr. Kang," she said. "I mean, you were kind enough to let me stay here, so I don't think I can keep you ooooout?"

She turned the last out from a sarcastic full stop to a raised question just in time.

Dumbass! Stop trying to be smart!

"Kang is fine," said the old man. "I understand you had a dream last night about your ancestry."

He grasped the edges of the duvet with both hands and tugged it loose with a firm pull. Christine was too discombobulated to actually stop him.

"Did... did Rob tell you?"

"No," said Kang. "Lady Ming did."

Ah.

Wait.

"You're a Liu, too?" she blurted.

"Of course not," said Kang. "I am simply the last of those entrusted with the cult of the Hart Princess."

He folded the duvet in four, wrapping the stain on the inside, then put it on the floor. Christine waited for him to straighten up, not sure if she should go over to help, or if that would be rude. She didn't know how to deal with old people.

"Entrusted with the cult of the Hart Princess," she repeated. "So you're a priest."

Mum didn't have many dealings with priests. As a matter of fact, she had no respect at all for the vast majority of them.

"The gods are real, Christine. The priests usually aren't. Never give an offering when you can write a charm. The money won't go where you think."

Lawrence and Uncle Tang Siong had the complete opposite idea; they believed in respecting all religious people, no matter their position. Christine sometimes wondered if they understood the concept of grifting.

"Not a priest," said Kang. "Merely a servant. For twenty generations, we of the Qiu family have waited on the Princess. Offerings, blessings, and invocations of her power... these were all done by our clan, whether male or female."

"But she's not a god," said Christine, before she could stop herself.

"I know that," smiled Kang. His wrinkled cheeks quirked into deep valleys. "But there is power in belief that transcends the gods. How do you think the prophecy came to pass?"

Christine frowned, determined to think her way through this one. How had Mum explained it?

"Everyone has some sort of destiny or fate, right? And some people can see those fates, like fortune-tellers, astrologers, and seers. They're lines that you can trace, apparently, like some connect-the-dots book... but never mind that. I guess the prophecy was someone's fortune, only told before that person was born."

"Your fate?" asked Kang.

"No way," said Christine. "At least, not if I have anything to say about it."

Kang laughed. It was a thin but surprisingly wholesome sound.

"Spoken like a true mage, Miss Lam. What if I told you my theory?"

"Huh? I mean, sure. I'd love to hear it, Mr. Kang. "

She hadn't expected another theory. She thought she had nailed it. Sure, Mum was a terrible human being, but she was right about magic most of the time, wasn't she?