The third watch clapper cut through the damp night, sounding like the knock of death as it landed heavily on Shen Mingyue’s heart. She settled Gu Jinghong, who was still delirious with a high fever, onto the bed. As she tucked him in, her fingertips brushed his scorching forehead, and a sharp pang of pain shot through her.
"You must hold on..." she murmured, her voice thick with worry and heartache. Rainwater dripped from the eaves, trailing down the dark tiles like silver threads, blossoming into crystalline splashes on the surface of her oil-paper umbrella, yet it could not wash away the lingering anxiety in her eyes.
The sandalwood box in her embrace felt like a red-hot iron; each time it pressed against her heartbeat, it reminded her of the peril she was in. Scenes of the Second Prince’s Estate assassins consuming poison flashed through her mind—the pallid, purple faces and the bizarre bat tattoos behind their ears were like nightmares that refused to fade. She gripped the edge of the box until her knuckles turned white.
Chapter 54