Chapter 10 · Her Trial Has One Stretcher

"She gave us the plague."

The soldier's finger stayed pointed at my chest. Blood crusted his lips. His eyes rolled white, then locked on me again.

"She put death in our water."

I didn't move. Couldn't. The courtyard went silent except for the wind scraping ash across stone.

Huo Yanzhan's hand went to his blade.

"Wait," I said. My voice came out flat. "He's delirious. He just came back from respiratory arrest, his brain's starving for oxygen—"

"He spoke your name." Huo's knuckles were white on the hilt. "Before you touched him, he said nothing. Now he accuses you."

"Because I'm the last face he saw before he blacked out. That's how memory works when your prefrontal cortex is half-fried—"

"Enough." He stepped between me and the soldier. The gap closed to nothing. I could smell the smoke on his armor, the copper tang of someone else's blood. "You will answer one question, and you will answer it cleanly."

I met his eyes. They were the color of winter slate, and right now they had about as much warmth.

"Did you poison my men?"

"No."

"Did you poison my brother?"

"No.