The Corpse Bride Starts a Clan

Wen Wanyue was sealing a wound in her own meridians when the first students arrived hungry, half-frozen, and ready to run. She had no grand hall, no treasure vault, and no safe place to hide the company-issued smartphone in her shoulder holster or the marked credit card inside her vest, only a locked room with a seal on the door and a way of writing that only the right reader could understand. When a note meant for one pair of eyes was read by the wrong person, her calm cracked. She still chose the people no one else wanted, because that was the kind of clan she meant to build.