The Galaxy in Her Eyes

As the copper clepsydra chimed in Changxin Palace, Crown Princess Su Wanni lowered her head in a formal greeting. Her rouge-colored palace gown made her skin look as white as snow. When Empress Jiang Shuying looked up, she met a pair of almond-shaped eyes concealing brilliant peach blossoms. That gaze was far too ardent to be a mere greeting. It seemed more like a furtive appraisal.

When they discussed old paintings, Su Wanni proved to know the empress's youthful work, Snowy Bamboo, by heart, even recalling the seal carved into a corner. After that flash of rouge disappeared, a palace maid whispered, "The Crown Princess looks at you even more intently than she looks at His Highness..."

Jiang Shuying's fingers suddenly tightened. She remembered a palace banquet many years ago, and the little girl hiding behind the green gauze screen, clutching a fallen cotton rose and gazing at her in just the same way.

No one knew that Su Wanni had diligently practiced neat hairpin-style calligraphy and meticulous bird-and-flower painting, or even secretly learned archery and horsemanship, all because in her youth she had seen that figure in a crimson palace gown shoot three arrows to bring down a bolting horse. She had fought for the position of Crown Princess not for honor or favor, but so she could stand beside the empress and earn one glance from her.

Fifteen years had passed, but the palace's red walls could not contain the surging feelings. When the Crown Prince gave her a jade ring, she lost herself watching the empress teach the princess by the water pavilion.

"Your Highness," she explained softly, a galaxy of stars lighting up in her eyes for one person alone. "I just thought the ink orchid Mother painted today was especially elegant."

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