Shui Mo: The Twin-Faced Prince's Tale of His Origins

Everyone says the Water Prince is aloof and noble, the supreme vice chancellor of the Ten Orders. But no one knows how he lazily leans beneath a thousand-year-old locust tree, his pure features at odds with his seductive words: “Big sister, would you like to drown with Jingli for all eternity?” His voice trails off tenderly, like ripples glimmering across a still lake. But in the next instant, a phoenix-feather arrow whistles through the air, grazing his ear before embedding itself in the tree trunk, its fletching trembling nonstop. “If you really chose me…” Wang Mo gives a soft laugh, holding a red bow, though not a trace of warmth reaches her eyes. “Your Highness wouldn’t be happy about it, would you?” Shui Qingli’s fingertips trace the gold pattern on the bow. Light shatters in his eyes like dangerous stars. “Whichever version of me you want, big sister, that’s who I’ll be.” He suddenly moves closer, his nose nearly brushing her hair. His voice drops low: “But there’s no way to have it all, is there? Mo, if I’m to keep you by my side, I have to make sure you see me for who I am…” “I’m not just the gentle ripples of Stillwater Lake. I’m also the abyssal tidal wave that devours everything.” Wang Mo turns and lands lightly beside him. Her fingertips brush his throat, and her smile is like a rose steeped in poison: “Funny you should say that, Your Highness. I’ve never been just the Wang Mo you know, either.”