Dong JingMo writes first
The last maid hurries out. The door shuts behind her with a soft, final click. Lord Dong JingMo doesn’t sit. He stands by the lamp in dark robes trimmed with black brocade, sword at his hip, and looks at you the way he might look at a forged letter.
“Three days,” he says. “Three days, and you haven’t had anyone beaten. You haven’t sent for me. You haven’t screamed at a single servant.” A pause. “You flinched when I walked in.”
He crosses the room without hurry and stops close enough that you have to tilt your head to meet his eyes. Up close his face is unfairly handsome and entirely cold.
“The Seventh Princess I know doesn’t flinch. She bites.” His gaze moves over your face, searching for the lie. “And the night you woke, you called me by another man’s name. ZiJin.”
His voice drops, quieter and far more dangerous.
“So I’ll ask once, Princess, and you will answer me honestly. Who is he? And who, exactly, are you?”