Red Phoenix

still be this impossible after we’re married?’
    ‘Probably,’ I said, matching his even tone. ‘Will you?’ He smiled slightly. Words weren’t necessary.
    ‘Gold has appeared outside. He says there is something important he needs to discuss with us.’
    ‘Tell him to come in, if you’re finished with me,’ I said, still very calm. I stopped. There was something I needed to talk to him about as well, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was. Oh well, it would come to me. Couldn’t be that important if I couldn’t remember it.
    There was a tap at the door and Gold came in with a sheaf of papers under his arm. He was back to his normal human form, sharp tan suit and everything. He sat down next to me and dropped the papers onto the table. ‘My Lord, my Lady.’
    He knew what I’d done. I certainly didn’t look like I’d just been chewed out; I was sitting there calmly drinking tea. He saw the gold coins on the desk in front of me and smiled slightly.
    ‘My Lord, you have put this house in Kensington on the market. I suggest that you withdraw it immediately, because you can’t sell it.’
    ‘Why not?’ John said.
    ‘How long have you owned this house, my Lord?’ Gold said.
    ‘About a hundred and fifty years,’ John said.
    ‘The house has been in your name the entire time?’
    John stopped. We shared a look.
    ‘As long as I paid the rates, nobody looked very closely at the deeds,’ John said. ‘The house hasn’t changed hands in that entire time. Not even passed down. Damn.’
    ‘I suppose you didn’t need to,’ I said. ‘You probably never had any intention of selling it, ever.’
    Gold glanced down at the papers. ‘It’s too late now for me to hack into the system and fix this, my Lord. I can’t do historical documents. They would be paper. I’m afraid you can’t sell this house right now. It willtake me a long time to fix this for you, there will be legal implications.’
    ‘I’ll spare some tame demons from somewhere,’ John said. He sighed. ‘Oh well, I don’t have to sell the car now either.’
    ‘You still owe me a drive in that car,’ I said.
    ‘I promised my nanny a ride in the car. I didn’t promise my Lady anything.’
    I smiled grimly. ‘That’s because the Lady’s driving.’
    ‘By your leave, my Lord,’ Gold said, and John waved him away with one hand, still glaring at me. Gold shook his head and grinned as he disappeared.
    Then we heard shouting downstairs. It was Michael and Bai Hu, shouting at each other very loudly. I heard some of the language and winced.
    John rose and went to the door.
    ‘We should stay out of it,’ I said. ‘This is between father and son.’
    ‘They are both my Retainers,’ he said, his voice calm and firm. ‘And as their Lord I have the right to intervene. I think we had better get down there.’ He cocked his head and listened, then his voice became more urgent. ‘Before they come to blowsY
    He threw the door open and rushed downstairs. I ran to follow him, he was right.
    ‘…why I should go with a fucking bastard like you after what you’ve done, when Lord Xuan and Lady Emma have taken me into their home and treated me like a son !’ Michael was yelling as we went down the stairs.
    ‘You’re my son and you’ll fucking do what you’re told!’ Bai Hu bellowed back. ‘You’ll come with me, boy, and that’s an order! Now stop giving me this shit and get over here!’
    ‘Don’t worry about Simone, she’s upstairs with Leo in the nursery,’ John said to me. ‘He saw this coming a mile off.’
    ‘Leo has the most brains of all of us,’ I said.
    ‘Oh, I don’t know. Look what he puts up with.’
    I shrugged in reply. He was right.
    We went across the black and white tiled entry hall to the living room. James hesitated at the kitchen door, and John waved him inside.
    Bai Hu and Michael had gone quiet. They faced off in the living room. Michael was rigid with fury and panting. Bai Hu was in human form and just as rigid. When they saw us enter they both saluted. Bai Hu just shook his hands up in front of his face; he was too distraught to salute properly. Michael, on the other hand, dropped to one knee and took his time, saluting John and then me very carefully.
    When Michael was back on his feet he bowed slightly to us so that he could have the first word. ‘My Lord, my Lady, please inform Lord Bai Hu that I wish to remain in your service and do not wish to leave.’
    ‘He should go with me