The garden was still.
Even the crickets seemed to hold their breath after Yao Qing's confession.
Moonlight slid across the pond like silver silk, glinting on the single tear that trembled on Ananya's lashes.
She tightened her grip on her friend's cold hands. "You won't marry that man. I won't allow it."
Yao Qing shook her head, voice trembling. "An'an… they'll sell me by dawn. My father has no power left, and Mother can't stop them."
"You'll not return to that house tonight."
Her friend blinked. "Then where will I go?"
Ananya glanced at the shadows where her ghosts hovered unseen. "Someplace no one thinks to look — among noise, not silence."
Fen Yu tilted her head, whispering to Li Shen, "She's planning again. That look means trouble."
Li Shen murmured, "No, that look means she's building hope out of nothing."
