[ The night, a taut string of incidents, blinding lights and tepid misfortune: gaze thunderous, he barely blinks past the long spread of the high table, the evening's revelry. Glisten of foreign cutlery, pale porcelains glazes in paints of waters and landscape.
Poison. His heart bears the beat, accelerates it. Dances between the instinct for flight (to Sizhui, Wei Ying, trapped on opposite ends of invisible lines) and that for fight. And he does not ask, You are certain? Believes truth that turns the air of his lungs stale, erodes tissue. Condemns it.
And he says, mouth slackened — ]
My family.
[ — and tips his head to where the lady Vannozza's people gather, where Sizhui, Wei Ying, Wen Qing and the children make feast, begging the silent work of an accomplice.
They must know. Must be told. Already, he hastens to search his sleeves and pouch for precious dregs of parchment. ]
Secure a knife.
[ From the meats, the cheeses, the table. If he must tear at his silks to broker his amenities, he will, oh, he will. Let vanity keep company with the dead, if the missive is sent. ]
no subject
Poison. His heart bears the beat, accelerates it. Dances between the instinct for flight (to Sizhui, Wei Ying, trapped on opposite ends of invisible lines) and that for fight. And he does not ask, You are certain? Believes truth that turns the air of his lungs stale, erodes tissue. Condemns it.
And he says, mouth slackened — ]
My family.
[ — and tips his head to where the lady Vannozza's people gather, where Sizhui, Wei Ying, Wen Qing and the children make feast, begging the silent work of an accomplice.
They must know. Must be told. Already, he hastens to search his sleeves and pouch for precious dregs of parchment. ]
Secure a knife.
[ From the meats, the cheeses, the table. If he must tear at his silks to broker his amenities, he will, oh, he will. Let vanity keep company with the dead, if the missive is sent. ]