The silence in the Khan's private study was so thick it felt heavy, like the air before a desert storm. Arkan's eyes were wide, his breath hitching as he looked back and forth between the crudely drawn maps and the formal border reports spread across the table.
"This..." Arkan whispered, his finger trembling as he traced a mountain pass. "This matches the strange troop movements on the border report. The Hua army shouldn't be here. Not unless they were planning to bypass the main fort entirely."
The Khan did not look at Arkan. He didn't even acknowledge the tactical breakthrough. His silver mask glinted as he stared unblinkingly at Xiao Zhi. Behind that cold metal, his eyes were searching, sharp enough to cut through the silk of her robes.
Xiao Zhi shifted uncomfortably.
"How do you know this much detail?" he asked.
Xiao Zhi felt the sweat prickling at the back of her neck. She couldn't tell him she had read it in a manuscript of a novel she was editing.
