Would his Master really be so generous as to take Lin Ji'an in as he promised?
The ice around him melted instantly. 'We will share the same courtyard. I will see him every morning. I can protect him.'
'He will be mine to guard, completely isolated from the rest of the sect.'
Wangchen looked up at his Master with profound, uncharacteristic gratitude. He thought Elder Qin was finally accepting his bond with Ji'an.
But Lin Ji'an, standing at the base of the stairs, felt her blood turn to actual, literal ice.
She wasn't a lovestruck teenager. She was a genre-savvy reader who knew exactly how the "Heartless Dao" trope worked.
She looked up at Elder Qin and saw the cynical detachment in his eyes.
She saw the way his eyes flicked toward Wangchen's joyous face, and the microscopic tightening of the Elder's jaw in response to his disciple's emotion.
