The prince slammed the door shut and spun around to face me. I had to suppress a smile as I gamely clasped my hands in front of myself. “Your friend is very interesting, Prince Yushir.”

  He cast another sharp look at the door and toyed with the ring on his finger. “I wish he would find less ‘interesting’ ways to amuse himself.” He sighed and turned his full attention on me. “But we have yet to be properly introduced. I believe Dadan and Prince Dian referred to you as ‘Fei?’”

  “That’s what I’m called.” Not quite a lie and not quite the truth.

  “A pleasure to make your formal acquaintance, Miss Fei,” he mused as he cocked his head to one side to study me. “You seem to have performed a wonderful task on Lord Eastwei’s complexion and attitude. Are you by chance an apprentice to Grandmother Froumai?”

  An unbidden snort escaped me. “No, I’m just helping her while I’m here.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Then you are not a citizen of this lovely area?”

  “I’m, um, just a guest of the household, that’s all,” I assured him.

  His eyes flickered down the hall. I half-turned and saw that the passage was empty. Still, the prince stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Then you might perhaps be on intimate terms with Lady Arian?”

  I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. The prince’s love interest in Arian hadn’t dwindled since their parting. I lifted my chin and cleared my throat. “I’m friends with her, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Then perhaps you would be able to maneuver my seating during the Fur Festival tomorrow so I would be able to have a brief chat with her? You see, we became rather close during her time in the heaven realm and I wish to see how she has fared since then.”

  I tamped down a smile and solemnly nodded my head. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  His face lit up and he bowed his head. “You have my sincerest thanks.” He lifted his head but paused and studied me. “If you do not mind my asking, but how long have you been friends with Lady Arian?”

  Oh boy. There was something in his voice I didn’t like. I lifted my chin and tapped a finger against it. “Um, I can’t quite recall. I’ll have to ask her about it.”

  He waved a hand. “There is no need to bother her with my silly question. Merely send along my sincere wishes for her health and see if you might ‘adjust’ the seating arrangement to benefit us both.”

  Yeah, benefit both of you I wryly commented to myself as I took a step toward my bedroom door. “I’ll do that. Goodnight.”

  “Sleep well, Miss Fei.”

  I slipped into my bedroom and shut the door behind myself. The bed was tempting but I leaned my back against the entrance and contemplated what had just happened. Dadan had invited me back to his room but not Yushir.

  A faint blush warmed my cheeks. I clapped my hands over them and stifled a squeal.

  Get a hold of yourself, Anna! He didn’t ask you to date him!

  No, but I did hold his hand! That counts!

  It does not! You only did it to calm him because he’s not feeling as well as he puts on!

  My heart sank as I realized my inner voice was right. Dadan wasn’t himself, that much was certain. My thoughts wandered back to the broken crystal he had shown Lady Miansha, and the medicine Grandmother had used to revive him when his wounds wouldn’t heal.

  The wounds caused by my recklessness. How could I have ever believed something bad wouldn’t have happened if I had followed those haunting voices? Then again, how could I have ignored their mournful cries?

  I dropped my arms to my sides and sighed. I couldn’t rewind time and change my mistakes, but I could make amends by doing my best to help Dadan. And I needed to apologize to Arian’s family, especially her father. I’d dragged his only son into a near-death situation.

  I pushed off from the door and shuffled over to the bed where I collapsed face-first onto the down mattress. But all that would wait until tomorrow. For now, I crawled onto the bed, wrapped myself around a pillow, and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

  I was awoken the next bright, sunny morning by a knock on my door. “Um, Fei? Are you awake?” The reluctant voice belonged to Arian.

  “Fei?” I mumbled as I wiggled inside a cocoon I’d made of my bedsheets. Oh, right. My new alias. I poked my head out and my bleary eyes blinked at the door. “Come in.”

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  Arian slipped into the room and positively slammed it shut behind her. At least, she shut it harder than she often did. Her cheeks, too, were a brilliant scarlet and her chest moved up and down with the rapidity of a hamster discovering a wheel for the first time.

  I sat up, still stuck in my cocoon, and cocked my head to one side. “Is something wrong?”

  She cupped her cheeks in her hands and hurried over to the bed where she plopped herself on the edge beside me. “I. . .I cannot do it, Anna! I just cannot!”

  I rubbed the lingering sleepiness from my eyes. “You might want to start at the beginning and speak slowly. My brain isn’t quite turned on yet.”

  Arian dropped her hands into her lap and took a long, deep breath which she exhaled. Her shoulders drooped as did her head a little. “I. . .I cannot face Prince Yushir.”

  I paused in my attempts to free myself from my tight cocoon and lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  Her wide eyes fell on the door. “Prince Yushir is waiting down the hall at this very moment, and I know that he will no doubt wish to speak with me regarding his family’s heirloom.”

  I snorted. “I don’t think it’s the ball he wants to talk about but you.”

  Her blush only deepened. “But how can I speak with him? He is a prince of the heavenly realm and I am-”

  “A princess of a very large bear clan,” I finished for her as I fumbled with the sheets. The Gordian Knot would have been easier to untie. “And that’s good enough for him, otherwise, he wouldn’t be trying to woo you.”

  Her cheeks changed from deep red to an unhealthy white and she stared at the door as if some nameless horror was about to burst through it. “B-but that cannot be! He has so many other better maidens to choose from among those in the heaven!”

  I snorted and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve both seen some of those girls. He’d have a better future wrestling with a viper than finding matrimonially bliss with them.”

  “But-”

  “No more buts!” I scolded her as I resumed my fight with the bedsheets. “You are definitely good enough for him and I don’t know why you’re worried about that. I’d worry more about Jin finding out.” I froze when her pale face turned ashen gray.

  Her eyes bulged out of her head and her voice was mechanical. “I had not thought about that.”

  Oh boy. Me and my big mouth. “Well, don’t think about it any longer,” I assured her as I continued my futile wrestling. “I have a way to avoid the prince.”

  “And Jin?”

  I paused in my fight and stared at the wall opposite the bed. My face drooped and I shook my head. “We’ll think about that later. For now, help me get out of these things and into some cleaner clothes. I smell like the grave.”

  The evil bedsheets fell before her gentle, expert touch and I was soon freed. I slithered out of my cocoon and slipped into fresh clothes that didn’t reek of battlefield dirt. Something jingled in my pants pocket and I removed the small vial of peas. Only a few left. I’d have to be careful about how many I used.

  And speaking of that, a silver thread of hair floated by my face. I sighed and popped one of the peas before stuffing the bottle into my pocket. Every three hours. Good luck remembering that. I glanced at the mirror above my vanity and my face drooped. The crescent moon shone out bright and shiny atop my forehead. I scooted over to my clothing drawer and drew out a handkerchief which I wrapped around my head.

  All the while, Arian paced the middle of the floor wringing her hands together. “What will I do? What will I say to him?”

  “Nothing just yet if this works,” I mused as I tiptoed over to my door and peeked out. The hall was empty except at the very end. Yushir’s stiff figure paced the floor in front of the double doors. I glanced over my shoulder and watched my friend do the same.

  They really are made for each other. I only wish she would see she’s good enough for him.

  But a promise was a promise, and I’d promised to get her around him, at least this time. I eased the door shut and scurried to my window, barely avoiding a crash with my friend.

  Arian didn’t even notice. “What would Father say if he knew I had accepted such a gift from the prince?”

  I opened my window and leaned out over the porch. “He’s probably be thrilled to have a prince of heaven as a son-in-law.”

  She froze in her tracks in front of the fireplace and her bulging eyes stared at the stones. “S-son-in-law? T-that would mean he would be my. . .my. . .my husband?”

  “That’s usually the requirement,” I teased as I slipped over to her and grasped her stiff shoulders. “Now it’s time to get out of here.”

  Arian blinked as I turned her away from the chimney and to the window. “Where are we going?”

  “Out the window and under the deck,” I instructed her as I helped her over the sill.

  She landed on her feet and stepped aside but quickly noticed I wasn’t following. “Will you not come with me?”

  I jerked my head over my shoulder. “I’ll act as a distraction in case he sees you through the front windows. You just go and help out with setting up with the festival. That’ll take your mind off things.”

  Arian grasped my hands and smiled at me through tears. “You are a true friend.”

  “And this true friend is telling you to get moving,” I teased as I gave her a gentle push.

  Arian eased herself off the porch and I saw her shadow flit through the gaps in the boards before she disappeared. A heavy sigh escaped me. Now time to do my part.

  I heard a faint sound of door hinges and turned my head in that direction in time to see Dadan step into the room. He paused on the threshold and his lips twitched upward. “What are you doing?”

  And that’s when I lost my balance and fell out the window.