The Lotus did not sleep the night Iron Veil fell.
The yard reeked of rust, poison, and blood. Wolves dragged corpses into piles that stank of venom, others sifted through broken links of chain as though the fragments might still bind them.
Some wept. Some laughed. Most whispered.
By dawn, the kennel was no longer one pack. It was a battlefield waiting to break.
* * * * * * * * *
Ink Widow moved first.
She stood where Veil had died, her veil torn but her lips black and shining. Veil's surviving wolves were her prize.
"Bend," she whispered to them. "Drink, and be mine."
Her hand reached out, tipped in venom. One wolf crawled forward, trembling, his chain-marks still raw. Widow pressed her finger to his tongue. He gagged, writhed, then stilled — his veins darkened, his lips turned black, his eyes filled with poison. When he rose, he howled only her name.
"Widow! Widow!"
The others stared, torn between fear and survival. Some submitted. Others spat at her feet.
She did not argue. Those who spat were drowned in mist within breaths. Their corpses joined the piles around them.
One way or another, Veil's pack was hers.
* * * * * * * * *
But Widow's triumph did not silence the kennel.
"Veil drowned himself."
"She poisoned him!"
"No — something else broke him before her kiss."
The whispers spread faster than poison. Jian Yi made sure of it.
* * * * * * * * *
He walked the yard calmly, hands folded in his sleeves, his face unreadable. Wolves stopped him, desperate for answers, and he gave them each a truth that cut deeper than silence.
"To some, he said, 'She kissed him dead.'"
"To others, 'Veil's own chains strangled him.'"
"And to a few, 'His rust began long before Widow's mist.'"
Each whisper was different. Each whisper fed suspicion. By dusk, not a wolf in the Lotus believed the same story.
Widow claimed victory, but her shadow was already rotting.
* * * * * * * * *
The other captains circled like carrion.
Crimson Flame laughed from atop the wall, his wolves dancing in fire. "One storm gone, twelve remain! Let them all burn next!"
Iron Hand spat on the stone. "He was weak. Widow's poison saved him from snapping his own chains."
Silk Ghost smiled faintly, her threads floating in the air unseen, already weaving around wolves desperate for protection.
And Reed—
Reed said nothing. His silence pressed heavier than poison. Wolves glanced at him and flinched. It was as though the weight of chains hung from their throats. Even without speaking, he was forcing them toward choices.
Kneel. Resist. Die.
* * * * * * * * *
We kept to the edges, but edges don't last long in a kennel of wolves.
Two of Veil's branded survivors blocked our path, their eyes bloodshot, their necks raw with chain-marks.
"You," one snarled, pointing at me. "Widow calls all wolves to kneel. Will you bend?"
Wei Lan licked her blade, grinning. "We kneel to no whore."
Qiao Han stepped between us, his saber drawn. "Pass us, or choke."
The branded wolves growled, their chains twitching faint at their skin. "Then die. Widow takes all who remain."
They lunged.
* * * * * * * * *
Wei Lan met the first, knives flashing. She caught his chain-marked wrist and slit it open, laughing as he howled and swung wildly.
Qiao Han clashed with the second, steel grinding against chain-born strength. Sparks flew as his saber locked with the wolf's claws, each strike jarring his arms.
Shen Yu crouched low, scratching feverishly on torn parchment, whispering in terror. "Kneel, wolves kneel! Chains bite, poison bites! Wolves without master drown!"
I bled my palm.
Chains hissed into life.
* * * * * * * * *
The first wolf roared, lunging at me, his arms bulging with rusted strength. My chains lashed out, coiling around his throat. He clawed at them, veins bursting as he struggled. I pulled tighter, blood dripping down the links.
Ten breaths. Eleven. Twelve.
His scream broke on the twelfth. I yanked once more, and his throat snapped.
Wei Lan laughed madly, carving her wolf open at the ribs. "Leader! Let me carve all of them! Let me drink their kneeling blood!"
Qiao Han cut his opponent across the chest, his saber sparking against bone. The wolf stumbled, snarling, before I lashed a chain around his leg and dragged him to the ground.
Thirteen. Fourteen.
Qiao Han drove his saber into the wolf's throat. Blood spurted. Silence fell.
* * * * * * * * *
The branded corpses twitched, chains unraveling into rust. Widow's claim was broken in their blood.
But I did not feel triumph.
I felt eyes.
Dozens. Hundreds. Wolves in the yard had seen. They saw us stand alone. They saw us kill instead of kneel.
Wei Lan wiped her blades, smiling too wide. "Now they'll know. We don't belong to Widow."
Qiao Han's jaw was tight. "Now they'll know we don't belong to anyone."
Shen Yu's whisper rose, frantic. "Wolves without master! Wolves without chains! Wolves drowned alone!"
He was right.
We were prey now.
* * * * * * * * *
That night, the kennel split completely.
Some wolves painted themselves in flame and swore to Crimson Flame.
Others kissed Widow's poison and fell into her mist.
Some let Silk Ghost weave her threads into their flesh.
The kennel became factions within factions, captains carving wolves like meat.
And us?
No chains. No captain.
Every eye turned our way as though waiting for the moment we'd break.
* * * * * * * * *
Wei Lan grinned at the danger, knives eager. "Let them come. I'll cut them all for you."
Qiao Han stood guard, his blade across his knees. "Leader. We can't keep this up. Without a side, every captain will try to claim us. Widow first. Flame next. Ghost in the shadows. Even Reed—" He faltered, glancing toward the silent hall.
Shen Yu clawed parchment into ribbons, his whispers jagged. "No master! No master! Wolf breaks! Wolf bleeds storms! Wolf dies!"
I stared at my palm. At the faint crimson chain still etched there.
Eighteen breaths.
And I thought of the whispers.
Devour another's Lein. Forge chains from their storm.
Dangerous. Mad. But perhaps the only path.
* * * * * * * * *
The Lotus was no longer one kennel.
By nightfall, wolves had split into packs within packs. Factions fought in shadows, blood soaking the courtyards, whispers filling the air like smoke.
Widow's venom-kissed wolves stalked the halls, dragging the defiant into mist.
Flame's zealots set fire to the training grounds, laughing as wolves burned.
Ghost's silver threads wound around necks, binding without chains, invisible but tight.
And us?
We had nothing. No faction. No master. No shield.
Only blood.
* * * * * * * * *
It came the next morning.
Widow's wolves cornered us at the outer wall. Their lips oozed black venom, their eyes glassy, their skin marked by chain scars that had turned sickly green.
One stepped forward, tongue black, voice slurred.
"Widow calls. Kneel or drown."
Wei Lan's grin widened, knives twitching. "Again? Good. I was thirsty."
Qiao Han shifted his stance, saber steady, though sweat gleamed at his temple. "Leader. If we kill these, more will follow. Widow won't stop."
Shen Yu scratched feverishly on the wall, his voice breaking. "Widow calls! Widow calls wolves! Wolves drown! Wolves drown wolves!"
The venom wolves did not wait for choice. They lunged.
* * * * * * * * *
I tore my palm open.
Crimson chains roared into life, blood spraying as links hissed through the air.
Ten breaths. Eleven. Twelve.
The first venom wolf caught my chain barehanded, poison dripping from his skin. My link burned, hissing, corroding. I snarled and pulled tighter, dragging him off his feet. Wei Lan's knives slit his belly open, spilling black blood across the stones.
Thirteen. Fourteen.
Qiao Han met two wolves at once, saber sparks flying as their claws raked at him. He blocked high, but the second caught him low, claws ripping into his side. He grunted, teeth clenched, refusing to fall. I lashed a chain around one's ankle, jerking him down. Qiao Han drove his blade into the wolf's skull.
Fifteen.
Shen Yu pressed his bleeding finger to parchment, screaming in whispers. "Fifteen breaths! Wolf bleeds! Wolf strangles storms!"
Sixteen.
Another wolf spat poison, the mist hissing toward me. My chains slashed through it, cutting a gap before it reached my wolves. I coughed blood, my lungs burning, but the path stayed clear.
Seventeen.
Wei Lan carved through another throat, cackling. Her skin blistered where venom touched her, but she licked the blood from her knives with delight.
Eighteen.
The last wolf leapt at me, fangs bared black. My chain lashed around his chest, links tearing flesh. He clawed at it, but my pull crushed his ribs inward. His body collapsed, blood spraying across the stones.
Nineteen.
My vision blurred. My veins felt like fire. My heart thundered until it nearly burst.
But my chains still held.
Nineteen breaths.
* * * * * * * * *
Silence.
The venom wolves lay broken. Widow's kiss had not saved them.
Wei Lan knelt beside one corpse, smiling faintly. "More. Let them send more. I'll carve them until none remain."
Qiao Han pressed a hand to his bleeding side, his voice steady despite the pain. "This won't stop. She'll send more tomorrow. Or Flame will. Or Ghost. Or all of them together."
Shen Yu's whispers broke into sobs. "Wolves drown wolves. Wolves drown alone. Wolves without chains drown forever!"
I stood, my hands shaking, blood dripping from the broken links. My body screamed, my breath ragged, but my obsession burned brighter than pain.
They would never stop.
Not Widow.
Not Flame.
Not Ghost.
Not Reed.
As long as we stood unchained, every captain would hunt us.
We were prey.
Unless—
* * * * * * * * *
The whispers from last night echoed again.
Devour another's Lein. Forge chains from their storm.
I looked at Veil's death in memory — his chains breaking, his wolves crushed. Widow had kissed him dead, but something else had rotted him first. His obsession had cracked, just enough for hers to poison it.
What if it wasn't Widow who killed him? What if it was the clash? The resonance? The moment obsessions collided, and one storm devoured the other?
My blood chains hissed faintly even as they faded, links trembling as though hungry.
Yes. That was the path.
Not kneeling.
Not hiding.
Not waiting.
Devouring.
I clenched my bleeding palm until flesh tore. My chains rattled one last time before vanishing.
"I will not kneel," I said, voice raw. "Not to Widow. Not to Flame. Not to Ghost. Not even Reed."
Wei Lan grinned, knives bright. "Good. Let's strangle them all."
Qiao Han bowed his head, grim but unwavering. "Then we prepare for war."
Shen Yu scrawled the words across the wall, his whisper breaking into a scream. "Wolf devours storms! Wolf devours captains! Wolf bleeds sky red!"
* * * * * * * * *
That night, as the kennel feasted on carrion and poison, as captains circled their wolves like kings of ash —
I sat in the dark, bleeding quietly, feeling my chains stir.
Not enough.
Never enough.
If wolves with chains ruled this kennel, then I would forge mine from their corpses.
One by one.
Until the Lotus itself drowned in crimson.