Xiao Zai didn't know what Gu Wei meant, but he still followed him out of the throne room. They started threading familiar paths towards Gu Wei's private quarters in the royal palace, the same suit of rooms and small courtyard in which Xiao Zai had grown up.
Walking these hallways as a King, or nearly one, gave him an intense sense of vertigo. It felt unreal that he'd revisit the place he'd spent so many years living in fear after deposing his father.
He'd waited so long for this moment that now it had come he could only feel a deep sense of unreality.
That feeling multiplied when his dam opened the doors to the reception room in his quarters, to reveal a guard Xiao Zai had seen many times before, sitting at the table wearing casual robes that Xiao Zai recognised as belonging to Gu Wei.
The man put down the teacup and got up to his feet.
