Yuze practically had to drag Kai Low back through the tunnel, and the Bandri complained the entire time about it.
He didn't stop until Yuze threatened to gag him, and even then, they were only back in the room where they'd started for a few minutes before he couldn't help but open his mouth again.
"I don't understand-"
"For rock's sake." Exhausted, Yuze closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. Dust, dirt, and his clothes were sticking to him courtesy of his sweat, and he was sore from crawling. He wanted nothing more than a hot soak and to sleep for as many hours as he could.
"There was no one there!" Kai Low insisted.
"You don't know that." Yuze snapped. "And even if there weren't then, that doesn't mean they couldn't have shown up at any time. We could have ended up outnumbered in a heartbeat, and then what?
"Then we fight our way out!" Kai Low threw his hands up in frustration. "I know you know how to fight."
Since they'd never actually fought, Yuze wasn't sure how Kai Low was so convinced of his skill. "Even the greatest warriors lose when they're outnumbered. It's nearly midnight by my count; we need to go back. We can check the others after we get some rest."
Kai Low didn't look happy. He followed Yuze back with a pout and once again, followed him right back to his rooms.
Yuze wasn't sure why Kai Low kept assuming he was staying with Yuze, but then Yuze didn't know why he kept letting him, so maybe he didn't have any grounds to be annoyed. He didn't even stop Kai Low as he chucked his clothes with Yuze's, scrubbed himself off with the same bucket, and climbed into the tub before Yuze even got in.
He was a beautiful man, though. Yuze couldn't help but study him in the candlelight, admiring the way the water glistened where it ran down his skin. The candlelight amplified his golden eyes, turning them liquid, and Yuze had to look away quickly. He climbed into the tub, large enough that he could wedge himself as far away as possible and somehow not touch him.
It seemed to amuse Kai Low, and he stretched out but didn't move enough to touch Yuze. "You know whose manor that was?"
Yuze sank into the water, letting his head fall to rest on the edge and submerging as much of himself as possible. "Yes."
After a moment, "Are you going to tell me?"
"If you really want to know." Kai Low scowled, and it made Yuze smile. "The Wens."
"Are they important?"
"They're a minor family. Allied with several of the major families. One of them even married into the Yang family."
"Right." Kai Low gave him a blank look. "And that means what? More of the backstabbing you lot are so fond of?"
"The tribes fight one another a lot more than we fight each other." Yuze pointed out.
"Yes, but we stab one another in the front. There's no betrayal, just honest fighting."
Yuze snorted but didn't argue. "Maybe that was why your brother left. He didn't like all the fighting." Even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true.
Kai Low stiffened, glanced at him, but he relaxed quickly enough. "No, that's not why he left."
For all that Yuze and everyone who had met Kai Low knew that he hated his brother, he'd never been clear about why. "You only ever talk about him to say you hate him."
"I told you what he did."
"You said he left. You said you think he killed your sister."
"He did kill her."
"How?"
"Poison." Bitterness filled Kai Low's words.
Yuze's heart fell. "He poisoned his own sister?" He'd never have thought that was something Fox was capable of. Killing, of course, yes, because it was part of the duty of a spy. And also necessary for their survival. But to kill a loved one, a family member…that took a special kind of ability that most people didn't have. Yuze had thought himself a better judge of character than that. "Why?"
Kai Low frowned and fell silent for a minute. "He was angry."
"About what?" Yuze's question seemed to stump Kai Low.
"Everything. Nothing." Kai Low sniffered dismissively, but he was answering Yuze's questions, and it emboldened him.
"There must have been something. Fox never seemed like an angry person." If anything, he'd been unnaturally calm.
Kai Low shrugged, sending ripples through the steaming water. "Maybe you just didn't know him that well."
"Do you?" Because it wouldn't be the first time Yuze had dealt with family members who believed they were close, but in truth knew very little about one another, that wasn't surface-level.
Kai Low glared, but it disappeared pretty quickly. "You think I don't know my brother?"
"When was the last time you spoke to him?"
"Aside from the last time?"
Yuze gave him a flat look, unamused.
Kai Low tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "The night I found my sister's body."
Yuze stiffened, horrified. "You- Oh god, I'm sorry."
Kai Low shrugged, careless. Or trying to seem so. "It was a long time ago."
It may have been years ago, but he was clearly still carrying it with him. "Why would he…" That was what Yuze kept getting stuck on. Why would Fox murder his own sister?
"She was sick." Kai Low suddenly offered. "Not physically…in her mind."
~ tbc