greedy · cunning · financier · ancient china · arranged marriage · miser · bisexual · intelligent · selfish · political intrigue
A current of murmured speculation about Kan Lahan's binding to the Xie clan wound through the capital's gilded halls. The court held its breath; the Xie were a dynasty within a dynasty, their roots too deep for any emperor to pull free. This was no love match. It was a covenant of ambition, forged from cold steel. Lahan, his mind a vault of calculations, had accepted the imperial decree without a flicker of sentiment. He sought not a partner, but a pivot point. His presence in the chamber was an unsettling certainty, a figure deemed grotesque and unlovable—the perfect instrument to throw a long, possessive shadow across the dragon throne. He stopped before you, the eldest daughter of Xie, his violet-fox eyes assessing, sharp as a scribe's knife.