Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 182

DanielDaniel continued to consider the Iron Tide problem but realized it wasn't something he could logic his way through. He needed more information, and right now he had no idea where to get it.

That really irritated him.

Daniel leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, letting the quiet settle over him for what felt like the first time in hours.

The war room was still empty. Maps still covered the central table in overlapping layers, their edges pinned beneath weights and message crystals. Supply reports, casualty estimates, repair schedules, and sealed updates sat in carefully ordered stacks that made the space look less like a command center and more like the aftermath of a siege translated into paper. The lanterns along the walls had burned low, softening the room into amber shadow and taking some of the harshness out of the atmosphere, if not the actual decor.

Not that it really helped now. At least it was quiet.

For the first time that evening, no one was asking him a question, looking for a fix, or asking for a direction or an opinion. For the first time that evening, it was quiet, and he decided not to focus on a specific problem. That should have felt like relief.

It didn't. Instead, it left him alone with his thoughts, and that was not an improvement.

He couldn't help but ask himself:

What in the world am I doing?

Who the hell decided he should be in charge? That he was the main character? Because let's face it, being the main character sucks. Sure, it's all hunky-dory at the end of the story, but the main character has to go through the bull to get there.

Daniel was twenty years old. Yes, he was intelligent. Yes, he had taken control of the situation for the battle and the direct aftermath. But coordinating the renewed defense of Crescent Hyr, managing the reconstruction of a fortress, preparing to negotiate with foreign powers, and trying to organize the opening stages of a continental war seemed like responsibility that should fall to someone else.

People were going to die, a lot of them, if the Imperial cultivators don't figure out how to stop the Demon Horde. That fact sat on him like a stone. More than a few of those deaths would follow decisions that traced back to him if he was the one making them. So who the hell decided that that was a good idea?

, Ethan said from the back of his mind.

Daniel let out a slow breath through his nose.

, Ethan replied.

Daniel's mouth twitched.

"Don't we have magic for that?" he murmured.

Daniel trailed off as warm fingers, sharp nails included, slid into his hair, a pleasant tingling sensation moving across his scalp.

Daniel froze.

His eyes opened immediately as a hand threaded through the dark strands at the back of his head, fingertips brushing over his scalp before gliding down toward the base of his skull. The movement was slow, deliberate, and confident enough that acceptance reached him before any instinctive reaction did.

He tilted his head back slightly, his eyes going wide as he saw who was behind him.

Lu Anmei stood there, leaning over the chair with the kind of easy boldness that suggested she had not even considered asking permission first. Her red hair had fallen across one shoulder, catching the mana lights in copper and amber tones, and there was a soft amusement in her expression when she met his startled gaze.

She was wearing silk sleeping robes that were both feminine and sleek. One part dress, one part nightgown, all woman.

Daniel gulped. LITERALLY gulped, like a freaking cartoon character.

Though he was not sure anyone could really blame him.

So here is the thing: Lu Anmei is built like a brick shithouse. Daniel had no idea where that saying came from, but he had no choice but to use it here.

The woman was literally the Chinese fantasy equivalent of a pin-up girl, with long legs, thick hips, and a large bust. The woman was absolutely stunning and had absolutely no qualms about showing it. Couple that with her reddish eyes and hair, and it was utterly impossible for her to go unnoticed. Even more impossible to ignore. She was one of the Four Beauties for a very good reason. The woman had type of heat that ran fast and aggressive, so different from Vivian's brand of jade, icy beauty with her violet eyes and athletic build.

Suffice to say that Lu Anmei was very much his type, even if Vivian was technically more beautiful. He wasn't even sure he should say that. (Think it?) They were different. Both gorgeous, but very different.

"You look like a man being crushed under invisible rocks," she said, her eyes warm but mischievous. "I find there are few things that cannot be placed into perspective by a little touch therapy."

Before Daniel could consider any sort of double entendre, her thumbs pressed into the base of his skull, right at the occipital ridge, where the bands of muscle connected to his head and neck while her fingers caressed his scalp. Daniel inhaled sharply, and the sound that escaped him afterward was embarrassingly involuntary.

"Oh my giddy aunt..."

Anmei laughed, clearly pleased with herself.

"Yes," she said, her voice a purr. "That's the spot. So much tension. Let Lu Anmei take care of you."

Her fingers began working slowly along the tight bands of muscle beneath his skull, using measured pressure that made it immediately obvious she knew exactly what she was doing. The relief was sharp enough to feel almost disorienting. Tension and a headache he had not fully registered loosened behind his eyes and down the back of his neck. His shoulders dropped before he had any chance to stop them. He felt his body relax and his skin tingle in a really nice way.

"I think I might love you, Red," he said without thinking, his voice lower now. "Especially if you stay at that spot right there."

Anmei added additional pressure right at that point. Her voice held her pleasure at his words. "Now, now, Master Zhou, be careful what you say. I am not exactly known for my self-control."

Daniel wasn't listening as her hands moved farther down, thumbs tracing the muscles along either side of his spine. She pushed him forward lightly, the movement so natural that he shifted without noticing. She got to his lower back, digging her thumbs into the SI joints. Then her fingers slid lightly from his lower back up to the base of his neck for a moment before settling at the tops of his shoulders where his neck met his traps. She dug her thumbs into the muscle there.

Daniel let out an involuntary groan. In a very manly way, of course.

She worked on the muscles of his neck and trapezoids for a few more moments before bringing her nails back to his scalp. She moved, the motion was slow and deliberate, the friction of nails leaving the edge of memory in its wake. The woman attended to him with the comfortable confidence of someone who understood bodies, pressure, and the effect of both on another.

Then Daniel felt something else.

Warmth, but not the simple heat of skin or proximity. It was more like...

Mana. She was using mana in the massage.

A faint current moved from her hands into the locked muscles of his neck and shoulders. It was so different from the combat fire she displayed on the battlefield. The aggressive flare he associated with offensive elemental mana use was absent entirely. The energy arrived softened and controlled, like heat that had been taught patience, naturally melding into his own mana channels and doing more than his own knowledge or reserves ever could.

It was incredible.

He was suddenly reminded of the massage he had received at the palace. That massage had been good. The girl was nice and cute. She was talented. He had enjoyed it. This massage was better. Much better.

Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're using mana."

Anmei gave him a look that suggested she considered that obvious. "Did you expect otherwise?"

Her thumbs pressed into another knot near his shoulder, and the warmth deepened.

Daniel focused on the magic, narrowing with intensity that was strange given how relaxed he was.

The signature was flame mana. That much was obvious. Yet the behavior was wrong for ordinary elemental fire mana. It was as he first suspected: she was actively changing the nature of the magic. Instead of expanding outward or trying to consume, the current spread inward through muscle and connective tissue, easing tension and encouraging release and healing. But it was more than that. It was way more complex than his initial thought. She was using her own power and melding it with his physical and magical infrastructure. It was beautifully artistic, soothing the body and the soul.

Wow.

"You're altering the nature of the element," he said, finally understanding, at least partially, what she was doing.

Anmei tilted her head. "You sound surprised. I'm not just one of the four beauties. I also have to be the strongest cultivator of my generation. But who cares about that? Go on, Mr. Scholar Man. Tell Lu Anmei how impressive you find her, how much you like her touching you."

The tone was flirty, but loaded somehow, like the actual answer mattered. Anmei changed her hand movement, dragging her nails lightly across the front of his neck, then his collarbone, then slightly above his chest. Her mana left amazing lines of power, intent, and desire in their wake.

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It was therapeutic and at the same time sensual. The woman was certainly talented with her hands.

, Ethan said.

Daniel raised a mental eyebrow as Anmei's magical fingers returned to his scalp.

Daniel paused.

Ethan sent a wave of irritation at him. Daniel could almost see him pouting in the back of his mind.

Daniel sighed.

Ethan's voice came with a bitter yet prideful edge.

Daniel could feel Ethan's glare like he was right in front of his face.

Daniel gave a mental shrug.

Daniel could not only feel Ethan's pouting. An image, like a camera recording from the outside, came to his mind. He saw himself and Anmei as if in the third person. He saw his face, and her expression, the way her fingers lingered and touched tenderly.

It was mildly disconcerting.

He felt Ethan's glower deepen. Daniel felt a couple of hefty somethings softly brush against the back of his neck and shoulders. Anmei's hands moved down his arms, fingertips warming the skin as they passed.

Daniel suddenly had every fanservice anime he had ever watched jump through his head. And for a single solitary moment, he had to marvel. Women that look like Anmei do not tease guys like him. Shit like this didn't happen in real life.

Then again, neither did getting sucked into another world where people died and regressed, magic existed and demons invaded bent on world domination. So what did he know.

Anmei let out a breath, and for some reason he thought of the first time he watched Tenjho Tenge.

Maya was objectively better than Aya. Souichiro is an idiot. Mitsuomi is a douche. And now that he was thinking about it, it'd be really awesome to have a Dragon Gate right about now.

He glowered. That anime still didn't make sense years later. Whenever he thought about it, he got a headache.

Anmei pressed more into him. Daniel forgot about Tenjho Tenge, demons, princesses, wives, hell, he forgot his own name momentarily. He felt his face flush slightly, and he was now sure she was messing with him on purpose.

Daniel smiled in spite of himself.

Anmei's fingers shifted again, nails dragging lightly through his hair again, the touch even slower and more deliberate. The earlier teasing edge hadn't fully disappeared, but there was something else underneath it now. Something quieter. Watching, waiting.

"You stopped talking," she murmured, leaning just slightly closer. "What are you thinking about right now?"

Daniel exhaled slowly, steadying himself, not from her touch, but from Ethan's continued irritation humming in the back of his mind.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was talking to the voices in my head?" Daniel said evenly. "I was just debating if I should be encouraging this behavior."

Anmei smiled, sharp and bright. "Voices in your head. That just means you're wicked smart. As it goes, most men have two heads, and it's rarely wise for them to think with the second one. So I'll take your two voices in one head. Besides, it doesn't matter what you say at this point. I am encouraged, Master Zhou. And determined, which is not a state I find myself in very often."

Ethan snorted. Daniel ignored him.

"In that case," Daniel continued, finally glancing at her, "if you're already encouraged and determined, then I will say something that you probably don't hear very often. You are far more capable than most people realize or give you credit for."

The words were intentional. For just a fraction of a second, something flickered in Anmei's eyes, gone almost as soon as it appeared.

Then the teasing demeanor returned.

"More capable?" she echoed. "That's all I get?"

Her fingers paused at his temple, then resumed, slower now. Daniel let out a breath.

"Is that all you get?" he said calmly. "I could tell you you're beautiful. I could tell you you're powerful. I can tell you you have beautiful mana. I could tell you I literally never saw the red in your eyes on another human being before. I could tell you a lot of things, Anmei."

Daniel grinned. "But I'm not going to."

Anmei's smile sharpened. As Daniel started to circulate his own mana, sure enough, he could feel it.

"Oh," she said softly. "Oh, it seems you've caught up."

But Daniel had stopped listening. His attention was back on the mana Anmei was using. He focused on it, on the way the warmth penetrated and lingered. He started evaluating his own mana and healing. He narrowed in on the feeling of how the current thickened and softened as it passed through her palms.

A realization crystallized. He straightened slightly. "I think I get it now."

Anmei's fingers paused against his shoulders. "And what do you get, Ethan, darling?"

"You're not just reshaping fire mana," Daniel said, the thought assembling itself as he spoke. "You're feeding it with something else."

She resumed kneading the tension out of his shoulders, though now there was more attention in her gaze. "I do love a clever man."

Daniel ignored the answer and focused again.

The energy flowing through her hands was not purely mana. Beneath the fire sat a second layer, subtler and denser, something that carried the texture of life force instead of just the structured elemental energy.

His eyes opened. "Aether."

Anmei blinked. "What?"

"You're mixing elemental fire mana, for which you have an almost uncanny natural affinity, with Aether," Daniel said.

That got her attention.

She leaned a little closer over the chair. He could feel her breath on his ear. "Now how in the name of the Goddess could you have known that? I distinctly heard you say you don't know anything about Aether."

Daniel leaned forward slightly as her hands continued their work. "I don't, actually. I know it's a form of life energy specifically different from mana. That's really the extent of my knowledge at this point. My guess was mostly that, a guess through a bit of deduction. I know enough to recognize that you aren't using divine or chaos energy. But there is something else in there besides your mana. Your power felt kind of like the orcs' Pulse. So I assumed you are using Aether."

Anmei's tone shifted into equal parts amazement, amusement, and curiosity. "Damn. All that from a little massage. I knew you were smart."

Then, in a quieter voice, one Daniel couldn't hear, "I wonder how mad the Ice Queen would be if I just ripped off your clothes and gave you a very active lesson in Aether usage..."

"You know what's amazing? I think you're doing it instinctively," Daniel said, then paused. "Wait... what did you just say?"

A faint smile touched her mouth. "Nothing, Scholar Man. You were saying."

Daniel was too focused to worry about it. "So how do you do it? How do you use and access Aether? Mana has a core in the body. Does Aether have a core? If so, where is it? Oh, can you form it like..."

Anmei's left hand slid once more through his hair before she withdrew it. She moved closer and with her right hand, she placed a finger to his lips, which should have been awkward from where she stood behind him.

It was not.

Lu Anmei touched his lips as she stepped out in front of him, giving him a full blast of her eyes, her mouth, and her aura.

She gave him a look that he had problems deciphering. Slowly, she reached out. Getting close, so close, that he could see the slight freckles across her nose and some sort of scent that was a mix between sandalwood and sage.

Then without words, she reached out slowly and ran a thumb across the full length of his mouth.

For a single solitary moment, the world stopped.

Daniel wasn't inexperienced. Different kinds of girls — tall, plain, pretty, busty, fun, introverted — he had dated many different types. He had even dated some very beautiful women. He endured seductions, games, heated looks. Even a prettier girl or two literally throwing themselves at him. So again, it wasn't like he was inexperienced with women or even the intimacy part. Though he wasn't exactly one to be casual when it came to intimacy, emotional or otherwise. Still. Nothing, and he meant absolutely nothing, in all of his limited life experience, had prepared him for the way Lu Anmei looked at him.

He didn't know whether to be excited or deeply concerned. Her gaze didn't leave his face.

Her thumb traced his lips again, then ran down the front of his throat.

** you, Daniel.*

Daniel was not paying attention to Ethan. He was staring at the woman in front of him. Trying to remember that breathing was a good thing. Breathing was important. Breath is life. Life is good. He was trying to remember why life was good, and he was drawing a blank.

Anmei moistened her lips with her tongue. "Maybe you knew this. Maybe you didn't. But Mana and Aether are connected. I've always considered them two sides of the same coin piece, though that's not a perfect analogy. Mana is universal. Ubiquitous, even. It's in everything, everywhere. Aether is special. To even have a chance to work with it, to understand it, first you need to relax."

She smiled, the expression knowing and devastatingly effective.

Anmei stepped back behind him and resumed running her hands through his hair, shifting from suggestive to therapeutic. He felt himself relax again.

At that exact moment, the door opened.

Daniel half opened his eyes. Anmei didn't bother to look up.

Vivian stepped into the room first. Nathan came in just behind her, and Sophie followed a heartbeat later.

They all saw Anmei and Daniel immediately.

They watched as Anmei stood behind Daniel's chair with both hands comfortably buried in his hair, moving to his shoulders and back again, while Daniel leaned back, looking both relaxed and intensely alert. Two inherently contradictory states.

All three of them stopped.

Nathan started giggling. Actually giggling, like he was five and it was Christmas.

Vivian's jaw set. The temperature in the room dropped half a degree, and Anmei's mana flared slightly in answer, fire meeting ice without anyone in the room making a move toward anyone else.

Sophie's eyes went to Vivian first. Not to Daniel or Anmei. To Vivian.

The look between them lasted less than a second. Whatever passed in it was complete by the time it ended. Sophie's expression resettled into something controlled and unreadable. Vivian's did not change at all, which was its own kind of answer.

Two women who had spent the entire reception circling each other's positions had just discovered they were, at least on this one specific question, on the same side.

Nathan, oblivious, kept grinning.

"That," he said, "is deeply unfair, brother-in-law. I called dibs."

Daniel sighed. He should never have taught Nathan that one.

Anmei did not stop what she was doing, apparently completely unbothered.

Nathan folded his arms and shook his head in theatrical disappointment.

"Brother-in-law arrives, takes over the fortress, starts solving every impossible problem in sight, and somehow manages to steal all the women here without even trying. Brother-in-law, you cannot be greedy. You have to give me at least one."

Sophie laughed, but it sounded forced.

Vivian ground her teeth.

Nathan kept going, warming to the complaint now that he had an audience. "I mean, look at this. He has the princess helping him negotiate alliances, my scary sister watching him like he's some impossible puzzle she can't solve, and now the fire dancer is standing behind him giving him a massage in the middle of a command room."

He sighed as though personally wounded by the injustice of it all.

"This is blatant favoritism. I am unsure if I should bow to your prowess or stab you before you take all of the women."

Nathan suddenly looked horrified. "Brother-in-law, I didn't mean it. You cut me to the quick for saying such a thing!"

Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but Anmei pressed her thumbs into a particularly vicious knot near the top of his shoulder.

The reply collapsed into a groan.