White Tiger

that.’
    ‘Why did you kill my demons?’ Simone snapped from behind John. ‘They didn’t do anything to you!’
    The King bent to speak kindly to her. ‘If a demon defects, they know the penalty. If I find one of mine that has been tamed by a Celestial, I destroy it. That’s the way it works, Simone. They knew they were dead the minute they saw me.’
    ‘And I let you in !’ Simone wailed.
    The King gestured towards Simone. ‘You’re a fool, Xuan Tian. She’s a delightful child. And every single one of my demons wants her.’ He shook his head. ‘You should never have done this. Creatures such as yourself should never attempt to have human children.’
    ‘I know,’ John said.
    The King sighed. ‘Love makes fools of us all.’ ‘I know,’ John said again, softly.
    ‘Come and get your little donkey, sweetheart,’ the King said. ‘I won’t hurt you, I promise. You’ll need to give it a name. It’s a girl donkey.’
    Simone buried her face in her father’s leg and didn’t move.
    ‘Emma,’ the King said, and raised the piece of string. I glanced at John, who nodded.
    I sidled forward and took the string. The King smiled into my eyes and whispered to me, ‘I know he can’ttouch you, but I can. Any time you want a really nice touch, just give me a call.’
    ‘Go to hell,’ I whispered back, and led the donkey to Simone. She wrapped her little arms around its neck.
    ‘Have you told him about that dark thing?’ the King said.
    John glanced at me.
    ‘Obviously not,’ the King said. He saluted John. ‘Xuan Tian. See ya.’ And disappeared. ‘What dark thing?’ John said.
    ‘Let’s go back and finish our dinner, and I’ll tell you all about it,’ I said.
    ‘I negotiated him down to a kiss. He kissed me, and pushed his way into my head, and then the dark thing came out.’ I dropped my head into my hands. ‘I am so sorry.’
    He poured me some tea. ‘Why?’ I stared at him.
    He leaned back and glared at me. ‘Don’t for one minute think that I am jealous. Of course I’m not. What we have is greater than any jealousy, and you know it.’
    ‘Oh my God,’ I whispered. ‘You’re an Emperor.’
    His face went rigid and he watched me.
    ‘I know the tradition: it’s the Emperor’s duty to have as many children with as many wives as possible.’
    He didn’t say a word.
    ‘How many wives do you have? In the Northern Heavens? On the Mountain?’ I raised my hands. ‘No. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know anything about it. Just please make sure that I never meet any of them.’
    ‘Any of my other wives?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Not going to happen, Emma,’ he said with a small smile. ‘My number is one.’
    ‘Only one wife?’
    ‘Right now, you are my only one,’ he said. He leaned forward and gazed into my eyes. ‘You were prepared to share me?’
    ‘Women do incredibly stupid things for the love of a man,’ I said.
    ‘And vice versa.’ I smiled. ‘Yeah.’
    ‘So this dark thing was powerful enough to push the King away?’
    ‘Yes. It was pretty scary.’
    ‘What was scary?’ Leo said from the doorway. He saluted John and me. ‘My Lord. My Lady.’
    ‘Cut it out and come and have some tea,’ I said. ‘How do you feel? Up to eating something?’
    Leo sat at the table. ‘I have the biggest migraine in the whole world. Right now, all I want is coffee.’ He glanced around. ‘Where’s Simone?’
    ‘Asleep,’ I said. ‘Ran around with the donkey so much she wore herself out.’
    ‘Donkey?’
    ‘I’ll tell you later.’
    ‘But you’ll tell me more about this dark thing right now,’ John said. ‘He kissed you and invaded your mind. Something dark rose within you and pushed him out. Yes?’
    ‘Yes.’
    He leaned his chin on his hand. ‘I didn’t see anything like that when I looked inside you.’
    ‘He said maybe it was just him,’ I said. ‘What did he mean?’
    ‘Maybe it only comes out for someone with a demonic nature.’
    ‘Damn,’ I whispered.
    ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He poured some more tea. ‘If it’s important, it will emerge. If it doesn’t emerge thenit’s not important. It didn’t welcome the King; it forced him out. That’s good enough for me.’
    Ah Yat came in with Leo’s coffee and he nodded his thanks to her, then turned his attention back to us. ‘King?’
    ‘The King of the Demons has taken a shine to my Emma,’ John said. ‘He rescued her and Simone from One Two Two and bought Simone a