The tight-mouthed, steeled certainty of the pronouncement, like a curse cannibalising contrary impossibilities. His teeth grit-grind, Do not poison her with prophecy.
But the bride's flesh already bloats and bursts with the acrid cunning of life ill-purposed. She stirs, and Lan Wangji watches her discover herself in tender increments, from hairs that ride her skin in stiff peaks to the gravitational pull of blood, seeping.
Active power returns even in the cold absence of movement. He does not welcome it — only teases the blade turned and considers another slash, before understanding, all at once, that execution may not prove superior to torture. That the whole can revive easier than the parts.
That he must speak this, unwavering, for all he flinches. )
Butchery could outlast execution.
( Severe her hands, her legs. She can resurrect, but not stitch herself together, surely. He must — prepare the groom. )
no subject
The tight-mouthed, steeled certainty of the pronouncement, like a curse cannibalising contrary impossibilities. His teeth grit-grind, Do not poison her with prophecy.
But the bride's flesh already bloats and bursts with the acrid cunning of life ill-purposed. She stirs, and Lan Wangji watches her discover herself in tender increments, from hairs that ride her skin in stiff peaks to the gravitational pull of blood, seeping.
Active power returns even in the cold absence of movement. He does not welcome it — only teases the blade turned and considers another slash, before understanding, all at once, that execution may not prove superior to torture. That the whole can revive easier than the parts.
That he must speak this, unwavering, for all he flinches. )
Butchery could outlast execution.
( Severe her hands, her legs. She can resurrect, but not stitch herself together, surely. He must — prepare the groom. )