“Do you think I wrote a secret note on a piece of fruit?” She snorted, imagining herself carving a cryptic message to Yat-sen on an apple. With her luck, she could imagine Yat-sen eating the fruit before even realizing there was a message. The thought alone made her giggle.
Nikator growled a response in a language she didn’t understand. She blinked at him through the reflection in her handheld mirror while he continued examining every piece of furniture. Her heart rate picked up in pace when he peeled back the blankets atop her bed. She needed to distract him. Something to get him away from her bed. Anything?—
She shifted on her bench, about to ask him something, when her knee inadvertently bumped the leg of the vanity.
“Ow!” Her hand flew to her throbbing knee. A wave of pain shot through the injury and she cursed her clumsy movement.
“What’s wrong?” Nikator released her pillow, letting it flop back on the mattress, and moved nearer to her, his movements lithe and dangerous. His eyes were alert as he scanned her from head to toe, pausing at where she was rubbing her aching knee.
Biyu winced and tried rubbing her knee to stave off the pain, but even a small touch made it more tender, more painful. “I-I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. Did you hurt it yesterday when you fell?”
“From when I fell? I distinctly remember you falling too.”
“I didn’t fall. I did, however, dive forward tosaveyou.” There was an unexpected, sarcastic edge to his words, almost like he forgot he was talking to her. “Along with saving your sorry ass, I was also testing the structural integrity of the ledge. I’m a trained warrior, and warriors don’t fall from fucking ledges.”
It was probably the pain masking her true feelings, or making her delirious, but she laughed—sheactuallylaughed. It was so unexpected, so out of character that it only made her laughharder. The entire time, Nikator was staring at her like she had grown two heads. And maybe she had—because he wasn’t even that funny. He was a murderer. A trained killer for the emperor. Ruthless. Horrible. Lethal.
She wiped her eyes. “You’re—you’re not funny. At all. Ever. I just—I just thought of something else.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s what that was.”
“Exactly.”
For a moment they both stared at each other, unmoving, unsure of how to proceed, but then came a soft knock and Lin, the old maidservant who usually tended to her, poked her head in. “Princess—Ah, apologies. I didn’t know you had …” She eyed Nikator in disbelief. “Company?”
“Lin.” Biyu stood up straight, the comb clattering to the floor. She could feel her face warming up a few shades; they must have looked like lovers. Her bathwater was still warm, her hair was wet, and he … he was standing in the middle of the room like he fit in so perfectly.
“He’s—” She waited for Nikator to explain himself, but he simply scrutinized the old maidservant with cold, calculating indifference. She cleared her throat. “He’s my new guard.”
“Oh. Okay …” She nodded, and then pointed to the bathtub. “We were just going to collect the tub. Do you …” She stared at Nikator, but flinched away from the look he gave. “Do you wish for us to come at a different time?”
“No, no.” Biyu waved for her to enter. “Now is perfect.”
More servants filled the room, these ones a bit more apprehensive of Nikator, and they quickly collected the tub and exited. Lin hesitated at the threshold. “Good night, Princess Biyu.”
“Good night.”
When she left, whatever amicable mood had been brewing between Biyu and Nikator dissipated like it had never beenthere, because it truly didn’t belong. Tension filled the air and she went back to combing her hair, while Nikator made his way to the couch and fell on it. At least that had distracted him enough to stop looking at her bed. Even if it pained her and … made her laugh at something thatwasn’tfunny.
“Are you really planning on watching me … all night?” Biyu’s hands shook and she rested the comb where the rest of her jewelry was messily strewn about. She twisted the magic stone ring Yat-sen had given her, the reassuring thrum of magic somehow calming her buzzing nerves. “Don’t you need to sleep, too? You look like you haven’t slept all night.”
“I don’t trust you.”
Biyu frowned. “But is that enough to make you watch me all night long? That’s … that’s unheard of!”
“Would you rather be in the dungeons? Where you piss in a bucket in front of the guards? Where you can only bathe yourself with a dirty rag? Where you get thin rice gruel for breakfast and dinner?” He folded his arms over his chest and even with the darkness of his clothes, and the dim lighting, she could make out the outline of his bulging muscles—particularly his forearms and biceps. She forced herself to look away.
“Fine,” she gritted out. “Do as you please.”
She couldn’t talk her way out of this, not that she was much of a talker. She wasn’t like Liqin, who could manipulate her words and use her feminine charms to her advantage. Nor was she as intelligent as Yat-sen to come up with a complicated plan to thwart her enemies. She was just plain Biyu, and if Nikator said he was going to watch her all night, she had no choice but to bob her head and go along with it.
12
A few hoursmust have passed with Biyu tossing and turning, her clothes sticking to her hot, sweaty body. Normally, she used her under-robes as a night dress, but since Nikator was literallyright there, she hadn’t stripped down to it. Unfortunately, the humid summer heat didn’t help her, nor did her bundled-up state. She skimmed her hand over her blanket and peeled it off herself.
The only light source was a single candle flickering atop a table beside the couch Nikator was currently still sitting on. His arms were still crossed over his chest, but his head was tilted forward, eyes closed. By the looks of it, he was fast asleep. He probably hadn’t slept at all the night prior, so it should have been expected, but she couldn’t calm down even with that tidbit of knowledge.
