The scream that tore out of the study was something between human and wolf, between man and Resident — but whatever pain had tried to stretch itself open was choked back down before it could spread. Swallowed whole.
A thin skin of silence hung in the air, trembling, as if the whole house might crack open at any moment. Then the sound came again — a low, involuntary moan, the kind that slips out when a fever won't break and the body stops fighting it.
…So Brianna had figured it out.
Fu Tailan sat back in his chair at the far end of the corridor, tucked behind the curve of the hallway and half-hidden by a large potted plant, and waited.
A figure stumbled out of the study — hollow-eyed, barely keeping upright. They stood in the corridor for a few seconds, throat working, making a wet sound somewhere between a sob and a swallow, and then slowly disappeared into the shadows at the other end of the hall.
