Jiang Cheng's fist smelled of lotus pollen and betrayal. He slammed Wei Wuxian against the cedar pillar, their childhood training ground now a cage of splintered memories.
"Jiang blood runs in your veins?" His voice cracked like dry bamboo.
Wei Wuxian's laughter carried autumn's brittleness. "Never did."
——
The lacquered box containing ten thousand gold taels gleamed coldly on Jiang Fengmian's desk. Wei Xuan's frost-edged blade hummed at her hip as she spoke:
"Debts settled."
Jiang-zongzhu's tea had gone cold. His fingers traced the lotus crest on the box – once a symbol of belonging, now a tombstone.
——
Nightfall brought Jiang Cheng to the docks. His shadow warred with moonlight on the pier's worn planks.
"Runaway dog!" he spat at the silhouette boarding the merchant ship.
Wei Wuxian's scarlet hair ribbon fluttered like a wounded pheasant. "Careful, Jiang Cheng. Stray dogs bite."
——
Wei Xuan found her brother at dawn, his back against a rotting fishing net. The stench of brine couldn't mask the blood on his knuckles.
"Regrets?"
He tossed her a sun-warmed tangerine. "Do icebergs weep?"
The fruit's flesh bled sweet and cold.