Lingzhou's eyes darkened. He didn't answer immediately. But he didn't walk away either.
And that silence, heavy as it was, was the beginning of their unspoken pact.
Meanwhile, in the pit below, the boy with the rusted spear screamed as the serpent struck.
The crowd roared.
But in the shadows above, a new game had already begun.
A game of patience and knives hidden behind silk smiles. Of bait and traps, laid for the serpent not in the arena, but in the fortress' heart.
Xu Mochen thought her a prize to be flaunted. He thought he was dragging her deeper into his web.
The serpent's final hiss still echoed through the arena when Ling Yu's decision crystallized.
The crowd's laughter, the lords' smug expressions, the anchor's distant pulse. It all pressed against her chest until the fury inside could no longer be contained.
She didn't wait for another scream, nor did she wait for Xu Mochen's smarmy coaxing.
Instead, she vaulted over the railing.
