Mei Lang wanted to slap herself. How had she not suspected it when Mei Liang—usually proud, arrogant, and never one to allow herself to suffer a loss—had let her brother bow without saying a word? She should have realized it. What could she do now? So many people had heard what she said, and there was no way to deny that she had spoken those words in the first place, Mei Lang realized.
Panic clawed at Mei Lang's chest. If word of this reached the emperor, what would he think? Would he see her as nothing more than a fool—a pretty face with no brains—and come to despise her even more? No, she could not allow that to happen.
She had to find a way to keep the matter from spreading… or at the very least, soften the blow before it ruined her reputation entirely. What Mei Lang did not realize, however, was that Wen Fei herself had already faltered. She had forgotten that the Mei family truly held such a decree from the late emperor.
