Echoes of Cain:
The tension didn't fully break, but it softened. Cain straightened, his usual stoic expression returning, though the flicker of something uncertain lingered in his eyes.
He didn't say a word.
And for a brief moment, I could sense the unspoken understanding between us: I had found a crack in his armor, one that no one else had seen.
Cain's silence lingered for a moment longer as if he were carefully choosing his words. Then he exhaled slowly, straightening, his jaw tightening with quiet resolve. The air around him shifted—cool and composed once more.
"That was luck," he said finally, his tone calm but edged with iron. "In a real fight, a stunt like that wouldn't buy you more than a second—and it would get you killed if you tried it again."
His eyes met mine, sharp and unflinching. "You caught me off guard, Asir. That won't happen twice. And I don't want to see you using that trick on anyone else. Ever."
There was no anger in his voice, just authority. He wasn't scolding me—he was setting a boundary, a line drawn in the dirt. What I'd done had worked, yes—but in his eyes, it wasn't something to celebrate. It wasn't real.
Roshan blinked, the grin still lingering on his face, but he glanced between us, clearly registering the seriousness in Cain's tone. "Alright, alright," he muttered, raising both hands. "No seduction-based swordplay on the battlefield. Message received."
Mei stifled a laugh behind her hand, glancing at me sideways with a spark of mischief in her gaze, but she didn't push further. Even she could tell Cain wasn't amused.
Kais simply crossed his arms, his expression unreadable, though there was a flicker of something—approval, maybe, or quiet amusement—in his eyes.
Cain stepped closer, lowering his voice just enough that it was meant for me alone. "You've got skill, Asir. But don't waste it on theatrics. Next time, strike clean—or don't strike at all."
With that, he turned, the finality in his movement signaling that the moment was over.
And yet... the weight of it lingered. The subtle shift in his posture, the flicker of something deeper behind his words—it told me everything I needed to know.
He hadn't expected it. He wouldn't forget it.
And neither would I.
----
The countryard shimered beneath the morning haze, white blossoms falling like snow. The girls moved in silence, preparing the offering trays-tea,whine,folded cloths perfumed with lavender.
I knelt beside Mei, my sleeves tucked properly, head bowed. She passed me a tray, her fingers brushing mine- too light, too brief to mean anything.
But something slid beneath my fingers, a silver of rice paper. A single pressed plum blossom inked in the center. No words. Just the flower.
I didn't look at her. I didn't need to.
That symbol meant the hidden passage under the storeroom had been cleared. We had gather enough weapons.
After years of planning, It had taught us patience.
Ten years of songs, dances, lowered eyes and perfect obedience. Of rituals and small kindnesses. Of listening through thin doors and behind silk curtains. Of smiling as they boasted about the wars, as they bragged about the day our clan burned.
« Keep your head tiled » Mei whispered, arranging flowers in porcelain bowl. She didn't even look at me, but I knew she was talking to me. "You'll draw too much attention."
I adjusted my posture slightly « thank you »
She nodded, and to the world we were just girls arranging blossoms. Maya came to the hall and began to work like the rest of us. She then left without a glance. But I knew that three petals placed to the left meant the gate watch had changed shifts. One of ours was on it now.
We gathered everything for our vengeance.
We had hidden blades inside flutes and instruments.
Poison in our rink pots.
Secrets beneath every fold of our dresses.
Even the way we danced had meaning- each step a direction, a map, a message.
The youngest, Lian, barely twelve, had memorized the guard's rotation better than any soldier. Hua, the quietest, could pick locks with a hair pin and steal a man's soul with her voice. Mei was our dearest clan member, few years older than me, she kept our memories-she knew every name, every death, every betrayal.
And I... I led them.
Not as their brother, not for now…
As the shadow of my sister.
Her ghost.
Her vengeance.
The day the war drums sounded from the border; Cain face was stone.
« My father wants blood, » he told Kais and Roshan. « For what, I don't know.
« Do we have a choice ? » Kais asked.
« No, we don't » Cain said. But his eyes flicked toward us watching them quietly from the tea house windows on the moonless night.
That night, every girl found something beneath her bed: a dagger, oiled and ready. A vial of medicine. A scrap of the house plans.
Cain left us his final gift.
Then he was gone.
We wept in silence that night. We were all alone again. No one was going to protect us anymore, they were gone, all three of them.
Now it was time, we couldn't wait any longer. Every wisper. Every hidden blade. Every coded dance and soft word.
Eight years. Every thread is woven into a single design.
Revenge.
After that, Cain returned only to be exiled.
He changed his destiny. He showed us the road.
We couldn't lose.
« Lotus » Mei said later, as we walked back toward the inner chambers. « Will you play it today? » All the girls gathered waiting for my answer.
I nodded once.
That was my signal.
The next act will begin tonight.
The scent of damp earth and burning wood lingered, carried by the autumn breeze. Below, the ennemy camp flickered with torches, the glow of their fires mocking the darkness of the land they had defiled.
Now was the perfect time to attack, the kingdom was defenseless. The soldiers were at war with the bording country in the east. It was a nightmare on the battlefield, death whipped out most of them. A story about a soldier in black armor was haunting tem.
The great wall was dressed in gold and blood. Lanterns swung gently from the high wooden beams; casting sift amber light on the lacquered floor. Petals rained from above, white and red. The air hummed with zither strings and perfume, a sweetness thick enough to choke on.
The guests laughed.
They always did, never suspecting the shadows behind our smiles