She came to the princess with Xi Baitan’s head.

  ‘Three, you’re here,’ Xi Qian’e waved her in, the door shutting behind them.

  Across them, the First Prince was seated at a table, with One standing behind him. The window paper seemed to glow with sunlight; the warm haze filled the wooden room, the red cquered pilrs drawing bright spots in her eyes.

  The princess’s red eyes flickered across her face, searching it.

  She forced a numb smile.

  Xi Qian’e… nodded, with a warm and pudding-like understanding.

  Relief shot through her.

  ‘Your Highness,’ said the princess, turning to the smiling First Prince. A cold, icy mask smmed into those lips. ‘This is the proof of my sincerity. The Fifth Prince’s head. If you could protect me, give me aid as you had once promised, I can become another of your knives — of course, I also have some very valuable information for you.’

  ‘Wonderful.’ The prince leaned back and waved with a hand, the narrow ends of his yellow eyes curving with a smile. ‘Well, I’m listening.’

  Xi Qian’e took a breath and said, ‘Your brother, the Second Prince, plots to kill you.’

  The prince stilled, his hand resting on the rounded colr of his orange robes. ‘Do eborate.’

  ‘His Highness once forced me to send Three after the Fifth Prince.’ Xi Qian’e’s voice was steady and confident — even if it had a faint tremor of nervousness. ‘He plotted to use our cousin’s death to frame you, to have you suppressed by the empress… He intended to use my guard to kill you then, Your Highness.’ Then, a gentle smile. ‘You needed the Second Prince as a shield, as a distraction. I can help you kill him and take his pce as your shield. Your Highness, you can’t keep vipers by your side. You’ll be bitten to death.’

  The prince paused. Leaning forward, he said, ‘Your proof of this…?’

  The princess handed him a piece of paper from her bag — the one that the Second Prince had once stamped. ‘Here.’

  He took it and read, slowly. The scrap of paper wasn’t much; it hardly had more than a few sentences. But whatever was on it was so terribly heavy, so big and cold, that the First Prince blinked and read it again and blinked.

  Then he ripped it to shreds.

  ‘You don’t believe me,’ Xi Qian’e said. ‘Do you think I’m lying?’

  ‘No.’ The prince looked away and said, ‘I believe you. This is indeed… what I expected him to do.’

  ‘Yet you —’

  ‘Yes, I won’t stop him.’ The prince leaned back with a smile, ‘He’s my twin, Third.’ Then that smile grew softer, in the way that strangled rabbits rexed when they died. ‘He’s all I have. If he wants, I’ll let him take everything from me.’

  One stepped forward —

  She flung her arm out, her fist hovering before One’s. A glint of silver fshed from between her fingers. Her eyes flickered to the prince’s and back as she snarled, ‘Forgive me, Your Highness. But I’m sure I can reach you before One can meet my mistress.’

  The prince whispered, ‘One, what are your chances?’

  ‘They’re low.’ The bulky guard didn’t look away from her. ‘I may be stronger, but she is faster.’

  ‘Hmm.’ He tapped a finger on the table, each sharp rap splitting the air. ‘Very well, Third Sister. I intended to kill your brother first anyway. You may leave.’

  Three fixed her eyes on him as she moved to the door, her fingers pressing into the silent wood.

  Opened it a crack.

  There was no-one outside.

  ‘…Many thanks,’ Xi Qian’e said. ‘I shall take my leave.’

  They stepped out —

  ‘One st word,’ the prince said. ‘Do keep this in mind, dear sister. If Qingxian thinks of you as a good, obedient tool…’

  He smiled. ‘You’d best stay as one.’

  ‘Well then,’ Three snapped back, ‘you can stuff that bullshit back up your ass!’

  Then she smmed the door.

  Xi Qian’e seized her wrist and dragged her away, ignoring the blood that dripped down her arms. As those white sleeves fluttered over her, the princess pulled her ears to the other’s lips, that softness pressing against her, the anger blurring into a blush.

  ‘The prince won’t aid us,’ whispered the princess. ‘Three, hide that head in his quarters. The empress, I believe, would be more than happy to join hands with us — especially since the First Prince killed his son.’

  ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘I’ll be right back. Stay safe, alright?’

  The princess shot her a most devious smile. ‘Of course, Chicken Feet.’