Five stepped forward. But before the woman could touch her, or before she could move, the emperor called out, ‘Stop.’

  They froze.

  The empress burst, ‘Your Majesty!’ His lips, pulled into angry lines, parted in fury. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘We are having fun.’ The other crossed her legs and said, ‘Just look at the two children’s faces, words written all over. They could star in a py about family drama.’

  If Three could grow two mouths, one would be swearing and the other would be ughing.

  The empress took a deep breath through gritted teeth. ‘Your Majesty. You’re interfering in my son’s ability to fight his competitors. Do you intend on favouring that damned blind-man’s child?’

  ‘You mean your nominal son? No. We merely feel that watching is entertaining.’ Waving a hand, the emperor said to Five, ‘You’ve got something to say, don’t you? Go on, spit it out.’

  ‘Xi Zixin!’ The empress yelled at the other, voice hoarse but wet. ‘You’re going too far!’

  ‘Out,’ snapped the emperor. Then she roared, ‘All of you, GET OUT!’

  Unwillingness simmered under the empress’s golden eyes. ‘Fine,’ he hissed, curving his back into a deep, terribly slow bow. ‘Your Majesty, this humble concubine shall take his leave.’ Then he walked out the door, followed by the Fifth Prince.

  Eight tilted his head; he too was made to leave with the Imperial Consort.

  …It was just the three of them now.

  ‘Well, go on,’ said the emperor. ‘Tell Three what you’ve got to say.’

  Five swallowed, then turned to her, licking dry lips. ‘You’re my little sister, Three. And I’m sorry about that day. I regret trying to kill you.’

  She looked at the other in silence.

  The other shakily took a breath; the trembling of it rippled out in thin waves devoid of air and life. ‘I was blinded. I understand now — his death was not your fault, but that of the Sixth Prince and the Third Princess. It was their orders.’

  It was as though they were nailed in pce — the older, burned shadow guard extended her arms, stretching open her bosom, but her fingers couldn’t come close to Three’s hems.

  ‘Little Sister,’ said the guard, ‘can you please give me a hug?’

  She didn’t move.

  ‘I know you’re scared. But trust me.’ Five’s voice couldn’t hold still. It trembled, shaking, as though every breath in and out came through a field of thorns. A wet damp pooled in her eyes, a terrifying fragility burning its way across those scarred cheeks and nose. ‘We’re sisters. Don’t you trust me?’

  Three flinched.

  But her sister’s promise — that offer of reconciliation — she opened her mouth but couldn’t speak, for the words in her throat had turned into shattered bdes. Her skin seemed to burn — the nausea from that fleeting, useless mercy, that dry hoarseness from days spent unconscious, that whisper of ‘run,’ spawned a revolting cowardice that strangled her lungs and rusted her bones.

  At her pause, her hesitation, something shattered in Five.

  And the other began to cry.

  Burning numbness. Drops on wood. Darkened spots that couldn’t stain, marks that dried up and cooled. Fell to the ground, crushed under a foreign flood. ‘…Xiao Gua, you’re all I have left.’ That head titled up. It killed the breath in her chest. ‘You’re scared of me, too?’

  ‘That’s enough, Five,’ the emperor said. ‘And you, Three. Let’s go.’

  *

  They didn’t make it far when they were stopped by the empress in the courtyard.

  ‘Xi Zixin,’ the man whispered. ‘Do you think I’m foolish?’

  ‘Bao Jinmeng,’ the woman said back. The golden dragon on her robes rippled, the weight of the silks pulling down her shoulders. ‘And no, I do not.’

  ‘You married a consort not more than a year ago, yet you can’t give up on this guard.’ He pointed to Three, an almost grieving sadness shaping the corners of his eyes. She quietly took a few steps back. ‘An imperial and noble consort. Three consorts, five concubines. After our wedding, you’ve married a total of ten others. Xi Zixin, what more must you do?!’

  ‘…I will have your pace renovated and expanded,’ the emperor said. ‘I will order the best lychees and apricots sent to you, with tributes of cowries and pink pearls. Jinmeng, I promise you —’

  ‘You’ve promised me things valued far less than pearls, Zixin,’ the empress said, ‘and you have delivered on none of them.’

  A beat.

  ‘Three,’ the emperor said, still looking forward, the shining golden embroidery on the other’s back almost blinding her, ‘go get me a branch from the jasmine vines. Now.’

  She walked back and said, ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

  As Three walked away, the empress said something that she couldn’t quite catch. But the hoarseness of the man’s voice was thick like blood, rich with emotions she didn’t know how to understand.

  The emperor’s voice was washed away by the wind.

  She quickly left the imperial noble consort’s pace estate. The bridges of the main pace rolled into view, the rich vanil scent of rotting jasmine blossoms rolling with the breeze. The leaves, with pointed tips like shattered lights, twisted in the air as they fluttered down.

  She swatted at one and missed.

  Whatever. There was more where that came from, anyway.

  It was hard to pick out which branch to rip off and kidnap; the things were woven into each other, forming something that was less a web than it was a giant mess of tangled rope.

  Well, she had to be quick — after all, she still had a prince to kill and Xi Qian’e was waiting for her report.

  Jogging up close, she grabbed one of the thinner vines and tried to snap it, only for her efforts to be thwarted by the thing’s stubborn flexibility.

  Damned pnt.

  She let out a growl and with a great burst of strength, ripped it into two.

  Then, gripping the splintered end with her hands, she sprinted back to the pace. The wind blew through her hair, the thing having long come undone; the ends of it spped at her thighs, blowing away like a cape.

  Flitting between the pruned bonsais and carved boulders, she again found the emperor and empress in the courtyard.

  They were still arguing. Or rather, the empress was pleading to the emperor’s hard, stony heart.

  ‘— daughter is dead!’

  ‘I know, Jinmeng, but I still need the Minister of Rite’s cooperation. I can’t humiliate the Northern Kingdoms any further, not when they’re already paying us tribute. If they snap, we’ll truly break out into war —’

  ‘You would rather support that Seventh Princess than our own son! Xi Zixin, how do you expect me to live like this?!’

  Three slowly came to a stop, watching them from behind a boulder, carved into the shape of a mountain. A stream of water trickled down it.

  ‘Jinmeng,’ the emperor said, her face almost mournfully quiet, ‘I have failed you as a partner. When my pns are completed, I will ensure you live a good life — you’ll have an estate in the south, marry beautiful and faithful lovers and father many children. You’ll be blessed with longevity and wealth.’

  ‘You think that’ll make me happy.’ The empress’s hands clenched into fists. ‘Being without you, my first children dead. Away from politics and my family. After all we’ve done together. After I put you on the throne.’

  ‘…I’m sorry, Jinmeng.’

  ‘You bask in guilt,’ the empress said, ‘but you do not regret.’

  Then, he turned and walked away, vanishing behind the twisted pines.

  Silence settled down, like a pristine yer of snow, broken only by the gentle prints of running water and the singing of distant birds.

  She waited. Then, she stepped forward, and silently held out the jasmine vine.

  Most of the blossoms’ petals had long fallen off, leaving only yellow stamens and a smattering of shredded white and yellowed brown.

  The emperor paused. Didn’t take it. ‘Three, am I a good ruler?’

  ‘I don’t know, Your Majesty.’ She held the vine stiffly in the air, stubbornly tapping the tip on the other’s hand. ‘I’m just a guard. But if it makes you happier, there are none in your court who dares to praise the st reign.’

  ‘So, I beat my father.’ It was then that the woman ughed; she took the vine, then gently picked at the tip of it, peeling away the bark to get at the green inside. ‘Yet I feel none of my stolen joy.’

  Three took a step back. Both a heavy dread and a bitter longing washed over her — her princess, her Qian’e, was still waiting for her. ‘May I leave, Your Majesty?’

  ‘You may go.’ The emperor turned around to leave. ‘But don’t attack my son again. Just… for today.’

  She flinched.

  Her mission would have to be postponed, if it hadn’t been ruined already.

  She bent down into a bow. She couldn’t help but wonder — how did she never realise how pathetic her first master was? The woman couldn’t make herself happy, couldn’t make her husband happy, and now couldn’t even make her niece happy. If she had the courage, she should’ve just ordered for her son to be the Crown Prince.

  …It was utterly ridiculous.

  ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ She straightened and said, ‘This humble servant takes her leave.’

  Then, she vanished into the carefully pruned bonsais and kes of stone.