The message arrived in the form of a blank scroll.
At first glance, it seemed empty. But when held near a lantern, faint characters shimmered into view:
"Midnight. Tea house ruins outside South Wall. Alone."
Zhou read it twice, then turned to Shen Lian.
"You shouldn't go."
"I have to," she said. "It's time to choose my monsters."
The tea house had long since collapsed, its roof caved and walls overgrown with frost-bitten ivy. Moonlight spilled through the broken beams.
A man stood beneath the archway, cloaked in gray, a scar trailing his left cheek.
"Third Prince," Shen Lian said calmly.
He removed his hood.
"You expected me?"
"I expected someone who doesn't answer directly to the Empress."
He chuckled. "And you're just a garrison girl with ink-stained ledgers."
"I'm a ledger that rewrites itself," she replied. "You'll want me before winter ends."
They walked slowly through the snow-laced ruins.
"Why call me here?" she asked.
"Because your silence is louder than any court gossip," he said. "And because you've made enemies I can't afford to ignore."
He handed her a slip of parchment. A palace seal. A name she recognized: one of the Empress's inner aides.
"She wants your death to look like disease," he said. "They've sent a physician south."
Shen Lian folded the paper. "Then I'll need allies who deal in medicine."
He stopped. "I won't kneel to you, Shen Lian."
She smiled faintly. "I wouldn't trust you if you did."
He extended a hand.
"No vows, no tokens. Just survival—for now."
She took it.
"For now," she echoed.
In the shadows, two foxes walked apart, each knowing the other's teeth were sharp.
And both smiling anyway.