Perhaps she would faint right there and then.

  I’m crazy. I’ve finally gone crazy.

  Exhiration, panic and galloping ecstasy trampled through her body, leaving dread in its wake. It was as though she had shattered the statue of a Buddha and worshipped a demon in its pce — every nerve, every fibre of her being was waiting for some terror, some divine retribution to fall on her head for defying her destiny, her very fate itself.

  But —

  Nothing happened.

  A terrible, terrible anxiety set over her heart.

  If she could have said ‘No’ this whole time, if she could have refused this whole time, if she could have fled this whole time, ignored every order and command her whole life —

  …What had she done?

  What had she been living for?

  What sins were resting in her hands?

  And what now?

  The guards’ widened. Eight spluttered, ‘Wait, WHAT?! Three, have you gone mad?!’ It was as though he was having a seizure as he burst, ‘You’re a shadow guard!’

  ‘SHE’S A PERSON, YOU SON OF A BITCH!’ Xi Yu screeched, ‘AND FOR FUCK’S SAKE, YOU ARE TOO!’

  The Sixth Prince muttered, ‘Damn. I never knew she could swear.’

  Xi Yu and Three whipped around and roared, ‘SHUT UP!’

  He backed away, his back hitting the bars.

  ‘This simply isn’t possible,’ Seven snapped. ‘You’re a shadow guard. You’ve Ripened. How could — no, this isn’t right. Three, your whole life was right before you — how could you just discard it like this?!’

  He stormed up to her, his hands grabbing at her colr, but she spped them away. He stumbled back in shock. The fsh in his eyes spoke of his disbelief, the incredulity that writhed on his face. ‘You can’t do this. Not you, not ever!’

  ‘Why can’t I?’ Three pulled her knives from her sleeves and legs — the bdes crossed in front of her, a shield for her and her princess. ‘Just because no Shadow has ever done it before?’

  Eight shouted, ‘This is the only way to be happy —’

  She roared, ‘AND WHO TOLD US THAT?!’ Panting, she cried, ‘The head shadow. The st emperor. They all told us how to be happy. They told that to the previous Sevens, Eights, Nines and Threes. But were they happy? And are they happy, too?’

  Pointing her bde at the speechless emperor standing on the throne’s steps, she screeched, ‘If they don’t know what happiness is, how can we, following their ruined steps?!’

  The hall fell into a deathly silence.

  ‘None of them smile. None of them ugh. They tear down their own families and lovers for power, thinking it’ll make for a better future, and look at them! They can’t tell me what to do anymore.’ She whispered, her heels digging into the tiles, her back pressing into the bars, ‘Being a shadow guard — Brothers, we’ll never be happy like this. We need to find our own paths.’

  ‘Then why is it you?!’ Seven screamed, his bun undone and emaciated frame trembling, ‘Why do you get to have everything? Your life, your love, your happiness? Why is it always you?!’

  His qi exploded — it filled his body, a pure writhing mass of white light that radiated of fury, hate, and a terrible, monstrous envy.

  It was a creature that made him invincible.

  The pure density of it was beyond anything she had ever experienced before — thicker than mud, it enveloped the whole hall and drowned everyone. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move as he seized her scarred and bruised throat with skeleton hands.

  He shrieked, ‘WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU?!’

  Terror.

  It blinded her.

  But then she remembered.

  Xi Yu was a regur human. She could not withstand such an agonised qi like this. Not for long.

  Three raised her knives. Her own lifeforce, a white fme of her warmth, enveloped around her bdes like a burning ntern.

  Eight forced his way towards her and screamed, ‘THREE, STOP —!’

  The knives sank in under Seven’s ribs.

  Then the world exploded.