Ardain sang.
Eirian stiffened. She hadn't heard her blooding blade sing since the night Finn had been killed.
Lady Yang launched herself at Chenzhou, steel flashing in her hand.
She was fast enough that she was within arm's reach by the time Li's shout startled the rest of the room from their surprise.
Any other time, she would have been fast enough to do some damage, maybe even kill, before the rest of them could react, especially with her family, minus Hikari, throwing themselves behind her.
She wasn't fast enough for Eirian's magic.
Maybe that was why Chenzhou didn't even flinch.
Branches swept out instead of flames, because there were a lot of people in a small space, and fire did what it pleased, even when Eirian was the one creating it.
They grew so quickly that the only response Lady Yang had was her eyes widening briefly before she smacked into them, and they swept her backward, into her family, and took all of them to the floor, where Li's guards grabbed them.
Li wrenched the knife from Lady Yang's hand with an angry frown, tucking it into his belt. "Double the chains and get them to the prison. If one more of them gets loose, all of you will be joining them in there." It was rare for Li to get so angry that he made threats; he'd been at this job too long to get wound up easily, but something as important as missing a blade on someone already known as dangerous was enough to get him angry.
Chenzhou put a calming hand on Eirian's arms, a silent plea for her to call back her magic when it became clear the guards couldn't move the Yangs with it pinning them down.
Slowly, it receded. The branches were shrinking back bit by bit, so the guards could pull the Yangs to their feet, slapping on extra sets of chains and dragging them out.
There wasn't anything left to say at that point.
Chenzhou, shaken despite his stillness, took Eirian's hand and dismissed everyone else.
"The High Court trial starts tomorrow." Mela Vermeer murmured. They hadn't been allowed to attend the Mingzhe's, but Finn's murder was one of the charges leveled against the Yangs, and as the only members of his family present in the Camelia, the High Court, at Chenzhou's request, had made an exception.
"Not soon enough." Her sister snarled, glaring at the last of the Yangs to be taken out.
***
As soon as he and Eirian were alone in his office, Chenzhou sat down with his head in his hands and took several deep breaths. The delayed shock from Lady Yang's attack took a few minutes to work its way out of him as Eirian stroked his hair.
"It seems strange," she said after a bit, "It feels like it's almost over."
Chenzhou sighed, took a breath so deep his lungs hurt, and let it out slowly. "This part, anyway. It will take decades to repair the damage from all of this. If it's even possible."
"It is," Eirian said, fierce. "After all of this, who is left to stop us from doing it?"
Chenzhou snorted; he couldn't help it. The gaping empty space next to them would probably always be there, but there were enough good memories of Mingzhe that it didn't hurt the way he'd feared.
Yet.
The Yangs had been stopped, the Wens and several others who'd worked with them were feeling the pressure. Chenzhou wouldn't be surprised if more than a few of them decided to come forward and confess just to try and get some kind of leniency. Anything to avoid going down with the Yangs.
A knock on the door had them both looking up.
"Come in," Eirian sighed, displeased with the interruption, but used to them.
They both stood immediately when Zhao Linlin entered. Mingzhe's mother held a similar station in the Camelia to Lady Yang, and a similar reputation, but she was a woman who operated in the shadows and had little illusion about the true nature of power and responsibility. If she'd been the one concocting decades-long schemes and betrayals, Chenzhou wouldn't have been surprised at all.
"Lady Zhao-"
She held up a hand. "I did not come for apologies or reassurances. I will never believe my son did the things he claimed, but I cannot prove otherwise."
Chenzhou and Eirian flinched. Lady Zhao had written long, detailed reports about what she'd found while trying to prove Mingzhe's innocence during the trial. She'd uncovered a great deal about the Vault and the Yangs, but nothing that proved Mingzhe had lied in his confession. While that alone meant something, it wasn't enough to stop the High Court. Lady Zhao had not been pleased by the end result, but she was too experienced in the world to throw a fit the way some of the Yangs were.
"I don't think you believe him either." Sharp eyes narrowed, moving between.
Neither answered; it would be too dangerous to put those words out in the world, but Lady Zhao saw what she was looking for and nodded, almost pleased. "I have a request, and you are going to grant it, because you loved my son too."
~ tbc