Silence returned to the garden.
Lin Tian exhaled and felt his shoulder sting where the earlier strike landed, but the pain was not what stayed in his mind. The mark under his wrist was what stayed there, the cold line that did not belong to him.
He turned toward Xueya.
Her eyes were sharp, and her hands were clenched at her sleeves like she was holding herself still with force.
"You sensed it," Lin Tian said quietly.
Xueya answered, "Yes," and the word came out tight. "I sensed his intention, and I sensed him trying to push you into a reaction."
Lin Tian nodded. "They are testing me," he said. "Not officially, and not with rules, they are doing it in the dark so they can pretend it is not happening."
Xueya's jaw tightened. "They did not even wait for morning," she complained. "They come into my garden at night, then they speak like they own the air."
