The palace looked different in winter light—harder, like someone had scraped all the softness off the wood with a knife and left the grain showing. Eaves threw longer shadows. Wind slid along the tiled roofs and hissed down the colonnades like it had secrets to tell if I'd only stop long enough to listen.
I didn't stop.
I ignored the stares. The whispers had been waiting for me since the first guard at the southern gate realized I wasn't a rumor. Servants dipped too-low bows they thought would save them from curses I had no interest in wasting. A pair of record-keepers froze with brushes mid-air and suddenly found the floor fascinating.
Fine by me.
At the turn of the covered walk, silk flashed. Lady Yuan stood just long enough to make sure I saw her here in the palace, that I saw her one step closer to the throne she said was hers. Our eyes met just briefly, but whatever she saw in mine couldn't have been that pleasant.
