Chapter Four: An Alliance of Blood Debt

Pei Du covered Jianyue's mouth. With each syllable the maid called, another door in the wall opened by itself. There were no rooms behind them, only faces crowded into darkness. “Don't answer,” Pei Du whispered against her ear. “A Name-Eater is borrowing her mouth. Answer once and it takes your surname. Answer three times and it lives wearing your name.” The maid lunged. Su Mi trembled with hunger but stepped in front of Jianyue. Pei Du raised a hand that could have broken the maid's neck, then hesitated at the number on her ribbon. Jianyue recognized it. The maid was one of the newly awakened human employees she had seen in the ballroom. She aimed not at the woman, but at the nearest open door. The shutter fell.