"Burn it."
Lingyun didn't move.
For half a second, the fire remained wrapped around his hands while his eyes stayed fixed on the young vine curled tightly around my wrist. The dark line beneath its skin had already climbed past the last healthy leaf, but it was still holding onto me as if letting go would somehow make everything worse.
"Rouxi," Lingyun murmured, his voice uncharacteristically concerned.
"I know," I replied. If this was a person, I wouldn't care. But the plant that was warped around me trembled in fear, thinking that I could save it.
But I couldn't and it was actually breaking my heart.
The vine tightened even more when I tried to pull my hand free. Its body continued to tremble against my skin, its leaves folding inward as whatever had entered it continued eating through the stem.
I ran my thumb over the side of its head one last time. "Let go."
It didn't.
Behind us, the ground shifted again.
