Everything Lan Wangji has heard of this god, every last story, aggravates him beyond reason. What god treats his followers so callously? What god asks such impossible tests of them? Gods can be capricious and unkind, but they don't earn their followers through nothing but acts of malice.

"All right," he says, slightly quieter, still so, so serious. "I needed to be certain. Claudius' trust is precious."