Years of empty doors and hollow corners. Months of dark and black. Nights of shivering wet and dead rats roasting on a spit. Days of running and stabbing and running and snatching and running.
It was not for nothing. There’s a moment where I can only stand and stare. Wonder how I ever doubted I would find her.
The first thing I see is her dress. As red as dragon scales under the streetlamps. Brighter than blood. Her hair is longer now. Braided to her waist. Her face is smoother, sadder. There’s a heaviness in her eyes. A weight on her shoulders that wasn’t there before.
But she’s still my Mei Yee. Still my beautiful, beautiful sister.
My sister is a beauty, but the ambassador’s a beast. Full of hot air and smoke. Puffed big and bad for show. For all his bellowing, Osamu reeks of fear. Vagrants know the scent well. The knives honed in on my throat now point at him. Eight strong.
“I’m a government official and my men are just behind me. If you don’t move, I’ll have them shoot you all on the spot,” the ambassador snarls.
“He’s lying.” I speak clearly. Loudly. My hand is still tight on Dai’s gun. “It’s just him.”
The ambassador notices me for the first time. His eyes pop almost out of their sockets. Like a rat skull crushed by a boot. “You! You set this up, didn’t you, you little—”
My hand comes out of the jacket. It’s not shaking or spinning like the rest of me. The revolver’s barrel points straight at the ambassador’s chest.
The gun does something eight knives can’t. The ambassador falls silent. His face turns as pink as raw meat. Full of very real fear.
The revolver stays steady, but all my insides are shaking.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
But my finger won’t move. Won’t pull the trigger. I stare at the ambassador’s meaty face, and all I can see is Kuen’s leer. So horrible, blank, and red after what I did to him.
And just like that, my chance is gone. The ambassador clutches my sister. Hides behind her like the coward he is.