The Dock’s Hidden Beast

Li Shen kept his sword inside a river merchant’s case and his beast tooth in the sheath beside it, because that was the only way to move through clan borders without starting a war. It worked until an inheritance token, a hidden blowpipe, and a debt to an old mentor pulled him into a fight he could not sell his way out of. He could smell lies in a room, hear fear in a pulse, and still make bad choices for the people he refused to abandon. That made him useful and dangerous. Yan Luo kept stepping into his path, calling him reckless, then covering his blind side anyway. The worst part was simple. They shared a childhood night neither of them could name, and every insult between them had that f...