For a lingering moment, both Cassian and Cixi seemed to wait for the other to speak first.
Cixi stood rigidly, throwing silent daggers at him with her eyes. At the same time, he received her fury with that maddening composure of his, as if her wrath were merely another small inconvenience he had chosen to endure.
At length, with all the ceremony of a gentleman he barely resembled, he inclined his head towards her and stepped back.
Then, at last, he closed the door.
Cixi did not move at once. She stood where she was, clutching the blanket to herself, listening to his footsteps.
Only when she heard the retreat of his footsteps, did she rush to her bedroom door and shut it behind her with far more force than necessary…
