Their tall, dark shadows stood between the crowd like patient collectors waiting for a harvest that had already been decided. None of them looked at her, recognised her, or perhaps did not care. They simply waited.
Her hands moved frantically over her own body, touching her arms, her shoulders, her face, checking whether she had somehow slipped out of herself again. But she was completely awake.
'I am still conscious.'
While she had only looked away from the crowd briefly, the gunshots rang out. She lifted her head reflexively and was immediately met with pitch-blackness.
Her eyes were covered with a cloth. Cassian himself had tied a handkerchief tightly over her eyes, blindfolding her.
Somewhere nearby, she heard similar movements. His men had blindfolded Marion and Lily as well.
One murder was more than enough for Cixi to witness.
Cassian did not care about her friends in the slightest, yet he recognised how deeply terrified Cixi was for them.
