Well, that grabbed Her Highness’s attention.

  ‘Xi Jiaoyang? Why?’ The princess cocked her head, that vicious curiosity once again lighting up her face. ‘Aren’t you quite close to your twin? He even killed Fourth to avenge you.’

  ‘He is too strong,’ the prince said. ‘On the day of the explosion, I wanted to meet you before my brother did. But I ended up losing my legs.’ He took a deep breath, then gently blew it out through his nose. ‘You are a sly one, Third. You and me — the powerless princess and the crippled prince — we are the ants that our kin will crush as an afterthought.’

  He whispered, ‘When Jiaoyang kills Fifth and Seventh, he will kill you, and then he will kill me. And by then, it will be too te to fight back.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said the princess. ‘We’re both ants. But how do you expect me to help you?’

  ‘Of the guards capable of assassination, only One, Three, and Five remain,’ he said with a sigh. ‘Two told me that One’s habits have left him with a great tolerance to poison and pain. Five cannot kill him. But… your guard can.’

  ‘So, what would you have me do? And what would I gain from it, hm?’

  ‘Kill Fifth,’ the prince said, ‘and pin the bme on Jiaoyang. The empress will suppress my family; I want you to take that opportunity to kill my brother. Until he dies, I will have him protect you while we’re in the Imperial City; I’ll even have him procure documents expining your disappearance from the Court. That is what I shall return to you.’

  The princess fell silent. ‘And if I don’t?’

  ‘Then my brother will have to change the priority on his kill-list.’

  ‘Fine. I agree. But I want written proof.’ Xi Qian’e’s red eyes narrowed. ‘And stamp it. With your personal seal.’

  The prince gave a hard sigh. Then picked up the brush on the table and scribbled words onto the paper before stamping it with a cubed jade seal. He handed it to the princess, snapping, ‘Done.’

  ‘My thanks.’ The princess checked it over before gesturing to her, ‘Three, come here. Don’t touch Two.’

  She nodded and pulled away. Two’s back wilted; he rolled into a ball and watched her leave, eyes hollow.

  We’ll be fine, brother.

  The prince didn’t stop them from leaving. It was only when they were at the door that he said, ‘Xi Qian’e. I hope to see results by tomorrow.’

  The princess cast him a cold look; the crippled man only ughed.

  The door shut behind them.

  Outside in the stone alley, her master turned to her and asked, ‘Do you still want to buy that bck robe set?’

  ‘If you wish, Master.’

  Again, that quiet. It pulled at her, as though it were an itch that she couldn’t reach. It didn’t hurt, but it was uncomfortable, so much so that the urge to run engulfed her feet.

  ‘I’m tired,’ the princess said. ‘Is it alright if we just get a ready-made set?’

  ‘Of course.’

  They stopped by a smaller store and bought a cotton set close to her size. The storekeeper, a round woman in her forties or so, gushed over her scars; she went as so far to question the princess, “discreetly” offering to alert the nearest prefect.

  ‘Oh, darling,’ said the woman, rolling up her sleeves, ‘is it your master? Just tell Aunty, I can beat the shit out of her for you!’

  ‘No, Aunty, I’m fine,’ she said with a gentle grin. ‘It was my previous master. My mistress is a very… caring woman.’

  ‘That’s good,’ said the other. She gently smoothed down her sleeves with a sheepish smile, ‘Do take care of yourself.’

  After that, they made their way back to the inn. Dinner was skipped — ‘I’m not hungry,’ the princess had hissed — but Three asked the steward for a pot of tea and two teacups.

  Inside, the princess walked straight to the bed and sat down, silent.

  Cold.

  Vast.

  When did Her Highness ever feel so far?

  Her fingers clenched around the pot’s handle, her knuckles whitening from the force. Then, she took a breath and let her muscles rex.

  ‘Master,’ she asked, pcing the teapot on the table, ‘would you like a listening ear?’ Then, lifting the pot, she gently poured out a cup of jasmine tea and slid it across the table. The afternoon sun glinted in its reflection.

  A quiet silence. It was broken only by the soft trickling of tea, the wafting steam as she poured herself a cup.

  ‘What could I talk to you about?’ The other gave a sneer, ‘It’s not like you can help me.’

  ‘I know that.’ Three stubbornly stepped closer, until she stood right beside the princess. But then, as her shadow encroached on the other — intimidating, scary, ugly — she quickly moved back and sat down, across the other. ‘But I can just listen.’

  A pause. A drop of tea fell from the pot’s spout.

  The princess’s fine lips parted.

  ‘I am the worst master you could’ve had, Three,’ the other whispered. She took a sip from the cup, soft wisps of steam flowing from her lips. ‘For I am someone whose ambition will be seen as danger.’

  The setting sun lit up one half of her master’s face; the other was deep in shadow. It roved over their skin like ghostfires.

  ‘My cousins all think they have power, that they can seize it for themselves. But they don’t realise that everything they have is from the emperor’s grace.’ The princess looked up and to the left, out into the window and the purple sky. ‘To make myself out as an interested party is to announce my wish to die.’ She let out a chuckle, ‘Even my brother tried to have you killed, just because I visited Fifth and Seventh.’

  Three didn’t speak. She just listened, quietly watching. The sun burned on the side of her neck.

  ‘I will scheme my blood kin to death. I will plot their demise and drink celebratory wine before their corpses.’ The princess burst out into harsh ughter, ‘I used to ride horses in the Northern Pins. I grew up with war maps for books and soldiers for pymates. We would listen to tales of pace struggles and revel in the freedom of the snowed nds.

  ‘When,’ the woman ughed, ‘when did I turn into this mess?’

  Her head tilted down. Three didn’t know what the other saw in her tea, what was lurking in those red eyes, but it disgusted the princess; the repulsion was so familiar it was as if Three could drape it over her own skin.

  And suddenly, she wanted to hug the princess, to hide that terrible expression away in the shadow of her shoulder.

  ‘You love the pins, Master.’ She took a sip from her tea, the bitterness of it filling her mouth. ‘You’re not here, in the Imperial City, by choice.’

  ‘…I’m not,’ the princess murmured. ‘But that’s okay, I suppose. I will survive.’

  ‘But will you be happy?’

  The princess paused. Then, she moved again, leaning over the table to whisper into Three’s ears. ‘One must be alive to be happy. And to be alive, I must become the emperor.’

  That warm breath brushed over her ears; ticklish, warm, it brought a burning heat to her neck, the edges of her face. It came in the colour of blush-red.

  ‘Tomorrow, we will return to the storm. Second has no need to frame First for Four’s death — he pns for that, when only he and I are left standing, to tell the empress the truth and have him kill me.’ A hand reached out to csp her shoulder. It seemed to burn her, reaching through the white fabric to sear her bones. ‘We’ll py along, Chicken Feet. Then, we’ll tell Xi Jiaoyang of his twin’s schemes.’

  She let her lips curve into the thinnest of smiles, murmuring back, ‘Alright, Your Highness.’

  Softness pressed against her ear. Lips. The realisation jolted her spine; a blush sparked across her cheeks, her knees going a little weak —

  ‘Now, why did that man call you Xiao Gua, hmm? Is that a pet name? Is he your lover? Do expin that for me, won’t you?’

  Her smile froze.