The day between the semifinal and the final was supposed to be a rest day.
Nobody rested.
Mo Tian spent the morning pacing his quarters, checking the window every fifteen minutes as if a courier hawk might materialize through sheer force of will. The imperial authorization had not arrived. His contacts at court confirmed the chancellor had received the request and was reviewing it, but the chancellor reviewed everything at the speed of a glacier deciding whether to move.
"He is thorough," Mo Tian said, wearing a groove into his floor. "Thorough is good. Thorough means when the inquiry launches, it will be ironclad. Thorough also means I am going to lose my mind before it arrives."
"Sit down," Lan Yue said from the chair by his desk. "You are making me dizzy."
"I am a prince. Princes pace. It is in the job description."
"The job description also includes patience."
"That part was written by someone who never waited for a chancellor to read a document."
