into the heavens, mourning the lives not yet lost. Li Mei's hands trembled as she heaved the heavy

strokes across snow-white silk. The arrows had missed, but the gash ac

h, her voice trembling like a reed caught in a storm. "I did

I do, the damn book that brought

ive toward a man whose name she'd only learned moments ago. But

he soldiers were coming. She could hear them barking orders in a language she som

ath his shoulders. "You're either going to wa

ou Wen croaked, on

d. "Did I say

mirk before pain ripped through him again. "And I must

moke and the blood, they stumbled into the hollow of a fallen tree. The hiding place was crude, but hidden. The e

en only by the ragged pull of Zhou Wen's

trying to unravel a p

rom here," he

's that

even from

i sti

t she feared he'd lost consciousness. B

you feel so

I wish I can answer you this

fact she knew things she had no business knowing. About how his story ended. Bu

nd his wound, trying not to shake when her fingers brushed bare

rmured. "No one's don

she replied, but

him once woul

e'd read-Zhou Wen would b

by bet

in di

he wasn't going to let fate

shoulder, exhaustion claiming him

relief until the scroll, tucked into her

, the parchment had unf

ared characters that ha

now inked into the

e scroll says she is. But every action she takes twists the threads of destiny further, and something an

I have no idea the dan

my studies yet and haven't even fallen in love