Chapter 21 · Who Gets to Claim Her

I woke up to voices arguing over my head.

Not the good kind of arguing. The kind where people talk about you like you're a chair they all want to sit in.

"The Lin family has blood claim." That was Elder Shen's voice, dry and flat like he was reading a shopping list. "Lin Yuan is her cousin. Custom dictates—"

"Custom can go to hell." Gu Hanchuan. His voice had that edge again, the one that made disciples step back in the hallways. "She stays under sect protection."

I kept my eyes shut. My body felt like someone had wrung me out and left me to dry. Everything ached. The kind of ache that goes bone-deep, like my marrow had been scraped.

The altar. The light. Lin Yuan's face when he said孵化.

I forced my eyes open.

I was in a bed. Not my servant quarters. Somewhere with actual sheets that didn't smell like mildew. The ceiling had those carved beams the inner sect got. Soft morning light came through paper screens.

Five people stood around the room like I was a corpse they were dividing up.

Elder Shen. Elder Wan.