Chapter 45
At dawn the next day, the inner wards flickered.
Poppy felt it before she saw it—a sharp metallic hum that rattled along her bones. She ran to the veranda just as a foxfire lantern shuddered, its light flaring too bright before sputtering dangerously low.
Mingxi was already there, posture taut with barely contained fury.
“No,” he breathed. “Not this close.”
Her stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”
“It means the corruption isn’t searching anymore.” He turned, eyes blazing. “It knows exactly where to push.”
Another lantern trembled. Another pulse of wrongness rippled through the air.
Mingxi’s voice dropped to something hoarse. “We’re running out of time.”
Poppy’s heart hammered. “Can the elders stop it?”
“Temporarily,” he said. “But not safely. And not for long.”
The world tilted beneath her feet.
The Council met at dawn.
The Council members’ voices carried down the hallway—low, urgent, grim.
Poppy waited in the courtyard, sitting among fox kits and Minghua while trying to ignore the knot forming in her chest. The air felt tense, as if the estate itself was bracing.
When the meeting ended, the elders filed out with heavy expressions. Mingxi came last. He found her immediately.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly.
Minghua’s eyes widened in understanding. She gathered the kits and hurried them away, leaving the courtyard in soft, drifting stillness.
Poppy rose to her feet. “Tell me.”
Mingxi hesitated. “The corruption’s reached the inner forest,” he said at last. “Three sides of the wards are under pressure.”
Her breath caught. “So… what do we do?”
“We leave,” he said. “Soon.”
“How soon?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. The ache in his eyes was answer enough.
Her gaze swept the courtyard—the lanterns, the plum blossoms, the echo of laughter from the kitchens. The place she had begun to build a life in. The clan that had wrapped her in warmth without hesitation.
Her voice trembled. “They’ll hate losing you.”
“They’ll hate losing you more.” His manner gentled. “You belong here more than you know.”
She blinked hard. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t have to.”
The words struck something deep inside her—something tender and fragile and terrified to hope.
Mingxi stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Prepare yourself.”
The wind shifted.
The wards trembled faintly in the distance.
Something ancient pressed against the edge of the world.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “everything may change.”
And Poppy felt it too. That tightening in the earth. That quiet wrongness. That sense of being watched. Safety had reached its limit. The forest was holding its breath.
Something was coming.