I squinted against the sunlight pouring through the doors. "Your Majesty, it's dawn."
The whisper of fabric rustling came from behind me. I turned—Fu Tingyan was already on his feet.
Outside, Eunuch Chen's voice drifted in. "Your Majesty, it is the hour of the Hare. Time to change into court robes."
"No need." Fu Tingyan called toward the door. "Prepare breakfast first."
Eunuch Chen murmured his acknowledgment and withdrew. My part here seemed done. I was trying to figure out how to excuse myself gracefully when Fu Tingyan walked over and stopped right beside me.
I fixed my gaze on the tips of his shoes.
When the silence stretched too long, my patience frayed. "Does Your Majesty have further instructions?"
"So it seems… I really do have to push you."
A low chuckle came from above. I didn't understand what he meant and looked up, but he was already rounding the folding screen.
"Do you remember what I wrote on that slip of paper?"
"Bring a lantern at night. Dress the sovereign at dawn. Attend great matters. Harbor no suspicion. One item pending."
"Then what are you standing there for?"
His voice floated over the screen. Daylight lay flat across the painted silk, projecting the silhouette of his tall, straight frame. His slender fingers moved at his waist—he was undressing.
I stared at the shadow and sighed. Clenching my teeth, I circled behind the screen. A set of smoke-blue robes hung on the rack. I stepped forward, took them down, and helped him into them.
Fu Tingyan was taller than me. I reached up to smooth his collar, and the closeness hit me all at once—his breath too steady, his warmth too immediate. At this distance, every shift of his body prickled through my nerves.
I held my breath without thinking, all my attention locked on the fabric under my fingers, praying he'd let me finish and let me flee.
"What's the rush?"
Before I could react, his hand closed around mine. The sudden squeeze made me flinch. He tilted his head and regarded me with a sidelong glance. "Don't suffocate yourself before the robes are on."
"I wasn't—" I tried to say something.
"Bring the sash."
I seized the reprieve, fetching the sash from a safe distance. Fu Tingyan knotted it with quick, efficient hands, then steered me out from behind the screen. He washed up briefly, and somehow showed no trace of an all-night session—no lag, no pallor. He looked as though he had slept a full eight hours and risen to command an empire.
"Eat something, then sleep here for a while. Go back after you wake up."
He was out the door before I could argue. Eunuch Chen was approaching with the breakfast tray and looked puzzled. "Your Majesty isn't eating?"
"No time." Fu Tingyan glanced back at me once, then said to Eunuch Chen, "Make sure she finishes her meal."
Understanding flashed across Eunuch Chen's face. He waited until the Emperor was gone, then led the attendants inside and peered at me with a small sound of surprise.
"My, my—Your Ladyship's complexion looks dreadful."
* * *
The truth was, whether I obeyed that damned decree or not, I was the one who lost.
If Fu Tingyan's favor was genuine, then I was a walking target—extreme favor rarely ends in anything but catastrophe. If he didn't care for me at all, then he had an agenda. But what could he possibly want from me?
I couldn't figure it out. In the end I barely touched my breakfast before shuffling back to my own chambers, lantern swinging limply at my side.
The moment I stepped through the gate, I spotted A-Yan perched on a little stool in the courtyard, head bent over a row of flowerpots, pulling weeds. The second she saw me, her whole face sharpened with curiosity. She sprang to her feet and rushed over.
"So? How'd it go? Ahhh, I told you to take my lamp—but no, you had to bring that puny little thing…" She took the lantern from my hands, still grumbling, and then happened to glance up. Her hand shot toward my face.
"My lady, you look awful."
I caught her wrist and held it away. "Those paws just came out of the dirt. Keep them off my face."
A-Yan paused, thought for a moment, and then her expression rearranged itself into an unmistakable aha.
"My lady, you really can't handle this, can you?" She narrowed her dark, glinting eyes, mischief creeping into every line of her face. "You'd better start building up your stamina, or if you're visiting His Majesty every night, he'll wear you into the ground."
I stared at her for a long beat, comprehension dawning. Without a word, I bent down, pulled off a shoe, and gripped it like a weapon.
A-Yan bolted. I caught her in two strides and landed a couple of smacks before she surrendered, howling for mercy. We chased each other until we were both gasping for air. Once she'd caught her breath, she finally remembered to ask.
"My lady, did you ask him?"
"Ask him what?"
"What one item pending means."
I stopped short. In all the tension of being alone with Fu Tingyan, I'd clean forgotten about it.
A-Yan wagged a stern finger and insisted that the next time an opportunity arose, I had to find out.
The moment I was back from Fenglin Palace and my nerves unclenched, exhaustion swallowed me like a wave. I barely managed to change my clothes before burrowing under the covers and dropping into sleep.
From that day on, my life became an exercise in endurance. To dress the Emperor at dawn, I had to be up before him. To bring the lantern at night, I had to stay awake as late as he did.
The infuriating part was that Fu Tingyan rose earlier than the roosters and slept later than the guard dogs—which meant I had to outwork both.
A few days of it had been manageable. But this had been going on for nearly a month. My cheeks had hollowed, and the shadows under my eyes could have passed for bruises.
I was dying.
The sunset blazed across a vast sky—just another evening of competing with roosters and dogs for diligence. I sat on the edge of my bed, pulling on my shoes, while A-Yan smoothed the stray hairs at my temples, her expression solemn and utterly serious.
I met her eyes. "Well? Do I look alert?"
She gave me a single grim nod, the kind a soldier gives before a last stand.
I drew a deep breath, marched to the doorway, and raised a hand in farewell. "I'm off!"
* * *
A-Yan stood in the doorway, watching me until I was far down the path. She looked like a wife waiting for her husband to come home from war.
Keeping the Emperor company was, admittedly, a miserable experience. But in all fairness, rulers who put in this kind of grueling work were rare in our dynasty. The blame lay squarely on the previous Emperor, who had left Fu Tingyan a mountain of wreckage to rebuild.
From that day on, I never arrived late again. After my first few visits, Eunuch Chen stopped coming to meet me at the door.
My timing had become precise. When I walked into Fenglin Palace, the sky had just darkened. I set the lantern on his desk.
"Your Majesty."
He grunted without looking up, brush still moving. He finished a final stroke, set the pen down, and raised his head to study me for a moment.
"Have you lost weight?"
Obviously. The softness around my belly had all but vanished.
I feigned surprise, hand drifting up to touch my cheek. "Hmm? Have I? This humble consort hadn't noticed."
Fu Tingyan narrowed his eyes. "Still putting on an act?"
"I truly don't know what Your Majesty means…"
My heart lurched. I shook my head, all flustered innocence, but he reached out and caught my arm. I had no choice but to sit beside him. I tugged my collar straight where his grip had pulled it askew, squared my shoulders, and sat stiffly upright.
"Won't admit it? Fine." Fu Tingyan reached into the tall stack of papers at the edge of his desk and slid out a thin booklet. "Then I'll have to punish you."
"This humble servant is guilty. This humble servant knows her error."
Life is the finest teacher. It taught me one essential lesson: when faced with an enemy stronger than yourself, regardless of the circumstances, the correct move is to bow your head before the blow lands.
A wise woman doesn't court disaster she can see coming.
I was already dropping to my knees when a single finger pressed against my forehead and stopped me cold.
"Too late."
He held up a bound volume. The pages were warped and swollen—half the paper had been soaked through. I blinked at it, confused.
"I had Eunuch Chen copy this sutra a few days ago," Fu Tingyan said. "It got splashed with water. Tonight, your punishment is to transcribe a fresh copy."
I stretched out both hands to receive it, but the book pulled away at the last second and tapped lightly on top of my head.
"Finish it tonight."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
I took the volume in both hands and stared at it—two fingers thick. A wave of despair washed over me. Finishing this in one night would require three lifetimes of penmanship crammed into a single sitting.
I had never once dared say no to Fu Tingyan's face. Clutching the book to my chest, I stood and looked around for somewhere to sit and write.
"Stop."
His voice pinned me in place. I turned around. He was watching me, dead still.
"Where are you going?"
"To… to copy the sutra." What was wrong with this man? One sudden bark after another—he'd nearly made me think I'd offended him again.
"This desk is more than large enough for both of us." Fu Tingyan rapped the surface with a curled knuckle. "You'll copy it right here."