She grabbed his hand. “Run.”
Through the back alley, into the rain. Shots. One bullet grazed her shoulder. Takeda pulled her behind a wooden cart. “Who are you?” he demanded. lust caution sub indo
She shook her head. She was supposed to pour the poisoned wine now, then drop the teacup — the signal. She grabbed his hand
He didn’t grope or boast. He quoted Li Bai in broken Mandarin. He brought her jasmine tea and once, after curfew, a single red camellia. “In Japan,” he said, “we say the flower falls even as we love it most.” Maya laughed inwardly. A poet with blood on his hands. One bullet grazed her shoulder
The Seventh Mahjong Tile
“Nothing,” she said. Then, louder for Chen to hear: “The tea is cold.”
And in that moment, she realized she wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid of wanting him to live.