The summons came at dawn, before the incense in the courtyard had finished burning. A eunuch in blue and silver bowed low and handed me a scroll with trembling fingers. I didn't need to open it to know what it said. The Crown Prince and I were expected at the Hall of Ascending Fragrance before dusk. An evening banquet. Another performance. Another mask.
All in honor of a woman I had never met.
The Crown Princess of Baiguang had arrived.
They said she came with gifts and silk, but I doubted she arrived empty-handed. No one crossed borders for diplomacy alone—not when the throne sat unsteady and the Emperor's shadow was beginning to flicker.
