The next morning, Liora woke to the sound of quiet knocking. Jianyu had left sometime in the night, summoned to elder council, but now he returned with a storm in his gaze.
"Something is brewing," he said the moment she let him in.
"What do you mean?
"Whispers among the elders. Dissatisfaction." He set a jade slip on the table, its faint glow pulsing with recorded voices
Voices speaking against him Against her.
Liora's blood ran cold.
"Do you know who? she whispered.
He studied her, his gaze lingering too long, as if weighing how much truth to share. "Not yet. But I suspect."
In the silence that followed Liora knew.
Mei Rong.
She swallowed. "Then what will you do?
"Whatever I must." Jianyu's voice carried no hesitation. "If they dare test me they will regret it."
The cold finality of his words should have frightened her. Instead, it twisted something low in her chest. Because no matter how dangerous, how ruthless… he always meant her. He always meant keeping her.
