Chapter 17 · Your Root, My Cage

Su Qing's holding the key like it's a dead rat. Smiling.

I don't move. My hand's still on the edge of the desk where I dropped my mother's letter. The iron key in Su Qing's palm is small, rusted at the edges, and I know without asking that it fits the lock on the dungeon door where I screamed three years ago.

"Your mother said someone would ask," Su Qing says. Her voice is light. Too light. "She didn't say it would take four years."

I swallow. My throat's dry. "You kept it this whole time."

"She told me to." Su Qing steps closer. She's still in her outer disciple robes, the embroidered crane on her shoulder catching the lamplight. "She said, 'When the right person asks, you'll know.' I thought she meant Gu Hanchuan. But he never asked."

My chest tightens. "Why would he ask? He didn't even know she gave you anything."

"Exactly." Su Qing tilts her head. "So either your mother was wrong about him, or she was counting on you to figure it out first."

I stare at her. She's not wrong. My mother's letter said the key was with Su Qing.