n's Poin

nt, as it always w

locked in their quarters, lights snuffed. Only the wind moved thr

Hei'an Manor still

rary, past a panel that responded not to touch but

the S

t of obsession. A

room were lined in crimson brocade. The scent of ink

the w

nti

eds o

h

-

e

chess. No-the girl from before. The one s

future that hadn't yet been born. The orphan who took knives to bed, who gave half her food to a b

been

tching. A

she didn

she never

-

rush still dripping in red pigment-not vermilion. A special mixture he m

s

her, one m

one. One he imagined. One he'd only seen when she thought no one was watching. The corne

memor

ed it throu

d by the very guild she built with h

-

One Year Aft

nce in the chamber whe

been taken. Her kille

one's throat in

second with t

third slowly,

by one, until the Glass

his vengeance, he made a vow in a

cursed. But let me find her again.

things that the

-

not his own, in a world shaped by s

wai

ilt p

battlefield like a s

he returned here-to th

-

slept just fi

wouldn't r

sting. Still watching

was

ted throug

ait a litt

-

fe-sized portrait stood, half-finished. Her new

the scaffold. Blood dripping down her

eaka

rf

ith a brushstroke, the gesture to

ed. "But you were never a ghost to me. Y

-

sel sat his book of poetry

age and read aloud, voice

become godles

ven for

lit the thr

a drown

rag time

e it in y

motion flickering through hi

e, Yue'er," he said sof

fingers curl

ilence hums li

g to no o

e the one thing

-

girl she was, the woman she's becoming, the expr

m came to mind. One he w

d burn, let the w

ilds, I will b

-

l, where a small dagger hung

old

her dead hand before

thumb acros

e," he whispered. "But I

-

artled the

ound, but enough

d voice of the steward. "The

ok away from

him w

servant dar

pressed his forehead gently t

eathed, "you'll re

u'll h

l, you w

hed the lamp

kered beside her pai

room in silence, locking the s

-