Before the little eunuch could protest, Feng Linyuan had already shrugged his inner robe over him and shoved him out with a hard shove.
The movement was fluid, practiced. By the time the eunuch finally registered what had happened, he was already standing before Liufeng.
The sight froze him. His legs turned to water and he slid to the floor with a soft, helpless sound, too frightened to move.
Liufeng lay on its side, its white coat smeared with dust. Its eyes were half-closed, ears lax. Then a familiar scent reached it. Its black nose twitched, its eyes startled open, and its ears pricked sharply. Whatever hardness had been in its expression vanished in an instant.
The eunuch went rigid, drenched in cold sweat.
Liufeng rose, sniffed deliberately, then half sat up. When it realized the person before it was not Feng Linyuan, the bright wet light in its eyes dulled instantly. Disinterested, it closed them again and settled back to rest.
The physicians exchanged looks—one glance said more than words. Empress Chu saw it too; her face darkened.
Feng Linyuan, now dressed in a clean inner robe, smiled faintly. “Your Majesty,” he said, voice composed, “if Liufeng showed no violent reaction to my clothes, perhaps that proves my innocence?”
Elder Physician Zhang, stroking his beard, nodded. “There’s only incense on the marquis’s robe. I smelled nothing else. And the wolf’s behavior corroborates it—Marquis Dingyuan had no hand in this.”
Feng Linche, seated at the head, wore a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. He curled his fingers on the chair and said lightly, “I knew A-yuan would not do anything to betray me.” His tone suggested that the person who had just furiously accused Feng Linyuan was some other man entirely.
Feng Linyuan’s chest tightened at the irony, but his face betrayed nothing as he inclined his head. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your trust.”
Chu Xiang’s brow darkened; this was far from the outcome he’d schemed for.
He swept his gaze to the physicians holding up the bridal robe—Lady Bai Zheng’s wedding garment—and sneered, “If there’s nothing on the marquis’s clothing, then perhaps the marquise’s robe is also clean. So what went wrong that drove that savage beast into the hall today? In the end, isn’t it simply a result of the marquis’s own indulgence—”
His voice drew a flash of anger from Elder Zhang. The old physician snatched the bridal robe from the hands of another and thrust it before the chancellor. “Who says the marquise’s robe is all right? Are you a physician, Chancellor, to know such things? I examined it thoroughly. The marquise’s robe was—” He didn’t finish the sentence.
No one noticed, at that precise moment, Feng Linyuan signal to Liufeng with a tiny, almost imperceptible lift of his eyelid. The wolf, already half-awake, wagged its tail, rose with an alertness that hadn’t been there before.
The little eunuch, who had only just been helped to his feet and was still unsteady, glanced up and saw Liufeng spring to its paws. He let out a strangled scream and collapsed again. The attendant who’d steadied him dropped him and fled in terror toward the cluster of physicians.
The sudden movement broke Elder Zhang’s sentence. He turned in time to see Liufeng trotting eagerly after the fleeing attendant—straight toward him.
The attendant, panicked beyond reason, scrambled through the crowded ring of physicians and stumbled over something. He pitched forward, arms flailing, and collided against Elder Zhang.
The old physician staggered, and the bridal robe slipped from his hands. The lightweight phoenix-brocade snapped up on the air and floated—then landed, by cruel chance, across Chu Xiang’s lap.
Chu Xiang looked down, bewildered. He blinked, then slowly lifted his head—and what he saw made sweat break out on his forehead.
Liufeng, which had been busy chasing the attendant, had stopped inches from the chancellor. Its glossy black eyes were rimmed now with a greenish gleam, its fangs bared, its claws creeping out like stakes.
Fear made the chancellor rise to his feet—an instinctive, clumsy movement. But the folds of the bridal robe lay draped over his legs, pinning them. He couldn’t move his feet.
Before he could think of how to escape, Liufeng lunged with a fierce, inhuman snarl.
“Father!” Empress Chu screamed, her voice tearing the stillness. She watched in horror as Liufeng’s massive body hurled at the chancellor, knocking chair and man as one to the floor.
Chu Xiang was an old man, just recovering from a grave illness. The impact rolled him like a ragdoll; color drained from his face until it was ashen. He could not move.
“Help—someone—help!” The cry that broke the spell came from Empress Chu alone at first. The guards snapped to attention and rushed forward, but they were too late.
Liufeng’s forepaw had snagged at the layers of brocade, and its other paw reared up, claws gleaming, aimed for the chancellor’s face.
Chu Xiang’s eyes opened again in a last ragged gasp. He saw the teeth and the claws descending, and the blood left his face in a single, horrified pull; he went limp, his eyes rolling white.
Empress Chu felt a hot, vertiginous flood of fear. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the sound of tearing flesh. Then—nothing. No tearing, no monstrous crunch. Only a low, surprised whine.
She dared to open her eyes again.
Feng Linyuan had moved without anyone noticing; he was at Liufeng’s back, his hands clamped around the wolf’s raised paw. The nails hovered a hairsbreadth from Chu Xiang’s face, glinting like spears.
“Take the wolf away,” Feng Linyuan said steadily. He soothed Liufeng with a few low words and a gentle stroke, calming the animal that still wanted to rip at the brocade. It had completed what it seemed to have come for—if that had been its intention—and any longer here would only inflame Empress Chu’s fury.
Mo Li bowed his head and answered, “Yes,” then hustled Liufeng away before anyone could intervene.
At the high seat, Feng Linche’s face was stone. His heart thudded in his chest; anxiety made him look a decade older.
Empress Chu’s legs gave out when she realized her father was alive. She slumped into Feng Linche’s arms like a broken thing, sobs wracking her. “Your Majesty… you frightened me to death…” she choked, tears spilling over.