The conversation with Arkan lingered in Xiao Zhi's thoughts long after she returned to her chambers.
At first she told herself it was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Ruhan had probably given that explanation simply to satisfy her curiosity, and it was entirely possible that he had mistaken one custom for another. The world was full of small coincidences, and she had no reason to suspect anything unusual about such a harmless moment.
She sat by the window and watched the servants moving through the courtyard below and told herself this for approximately ten minutes before giving up.
She was an editor. Dismissing inconsistencies was not something she was capable of doing indefinitely. It was not in her professional formation.
She thought about the birthday night again, carefully this time, the way she would have read a manuscript she suspected had a problem she hadn't identified yet. Not looking at the scene itself but at the details around it. The texture of it.
