The wine was stronger than she'd anticipated, a fact becoming increasingly obvious. A warm, loose feeling was spreading from her core to her limbs, softening the sharp edges of her anger and hurt. Her cheeks grew pleasantly warm.
Lu Yuze ate in watchful silence as she continued her pattern: a nibble of food, a gulp of wine. The glass was refilled twice more. Her movements grew slower, more deliberate, and a slight, unfocused smile began to play on her lips.
"You know," she said suddenly, her words starting to slur just a fraction. "He looked so... so stricken. Like I'd slapped him. Did you see his face?"
"I saw," Lu Yuze said gently.
"Serves him right," she declared, but the venom was gone from her tone, replaced by a melancholic confusion. "Keeping secrets... whole... whole people. That's not a secret, that's a... a universe."
She poured more wine, missing the glass slightly so a crimson rivulet ran onto the polished table. She stared at it, fascinated.
