Chapter 9

The trees stood thick with summer shade, cicadas rasping in the hot wind.

Half asleep beneath a round silk fan, I murmured, “Linglong?”

My cat suddenly growled.

“Beast!” A coarse shout was followed by a cry of pain. The cat screamed.

My fan fell. I pulled on an outer robe and sat up.

The intruder had a fleshy face, a bristling beard, and narrow eyes shining with appetite.

Cao Mang—my sister-in-law’s brother. He had come from the southern commandery for Wen Mingzhu’s wedding and was staying at the Wen residence.

He was a lecher who delighted in abusing women. More had died in his hands than anyone could count. But his father commanded soldiers, and his sister had married into the Wen family, so murder never cost him his life.

The weak drowned unheard beneath the waves.

Today, every maid had vanished from my courtyard, leaving Cao Mang free to enter as if he owned it.

The Wens had grown bored with peace again.

My injured cat leaped into my arms, whimpering. Blood seeped from its paw. No one had ever treated the creature this way.

I stroked its head and smiled at the animal in human skin.

“What brings Brother Cao to see me?”

He advanced toward the bed. “Are you not lonely here by yourself? Brother Cao has come to keep you company.”

The cat snarled in my arms.

“How considerate. But a man and woman alone together—would that not be improper?”

I carried the cat to my dressing table. In the bronze mirror, Cao Mang’s warped face appeared behind mine, his crooked teeth like broken rocks.

“How can Brother Cao help you unless we are alone?”

He lunged.

The cat sprang and sank its teeth into his arm. I drew a pair of sharp scissors and thrust at his throat.

He blocked me. Blood splashed my face, filthy and foul.

I pierced only his palm.

“Wretched beast! Little whore!”

He flung the cat away and struck me across the face.

I had forgotten that his father had trained him in the army. The difference in strength was too great. I could not kill him.

My ears rang. Blood filled my mouth.

“You refuse a toast only to drink a penalty.”

He struck me several more times, excitement brightening his eyes.

I spat blood, smiled, and pressed a pointed hairpin to my own throat.

“Do you want the Wen family to hold a funeral during these wedding celebrations?”

He laughed wildly. “Who do you think you are frightening?”

“You.”

I pushed. The point broke skin, and blood began to run.

At last alarm appeared on his face. “Madwoman.”

My smile grew sweeter. “Do you know what it feels like when a throat is pierced? Shall we find out together?”

“Mad. Completely mad.”

He fled.

Cao Mang did not dare cause a death in the Wen residence now. An incident during the wedding would be investigated, and even his father could not save him.

I removed the pin. The wound was shallow.

After binding the cat’s paw, I waited until Linglong returned and stared at the ruined room in horror.

“Where were you?”

“Miss Mingzhu sent us to help in the front courtyard.”

Wen Mingzhu.