He paced outside the questioning room like a caged tiger.
Back and forth, back and forth, his boots wearing tracks in the stone floor. Guards watched nervously from a distance. No one dared approach him.
Inside, General Wei was concluding the interrogation. Liang Jian could hear the low murmur of voices, questions and answers, but not the words themselves.
Every muscle in his body was taut with restrained violence.
She was crying, he thought savagely. She was crying and terrified and they had kept her in that room for four days.
He had wanted to kill someone when he saw her tears. Still wanted to. His hands itched for his sword.
Why does it matter so much?
The question whispered through his mind, insidious and unwelcome.
She's just a physician. A foreigner. A woman you barely know. Why does seeing her cry make you want to burn the palace down?
He didn't have an answer. He didn't want to examine it too closely. There was nothing there. Nothing.
