Chapter 3 · free to read
The governor had gone before dawn to draw the sect's eyes off her door. It had not worked. She could hear them counting her windows.
Shi Feng sent them not to kill her, but to learn her. A blade nineteen years unswung might be rusted. Might be a rumor. He meant to find out cheaply.
The girl had been told to stay above and stay quiet. She obeyed the first. The second was harder with her heart in her throat.
Eleven years of carrying trays across those boards. She knew where the wet was before she knew his face.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.