Sharing the Realm with You

[She taught her music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She taught her how to make men bow to her will. But she never taught her how to face the sight of her master becoming an Imperial Noble Consort.]

Ten years ago, on a snowy night, blood at her elder sister's throat stained the red palace walls. Ye Suning crouched behind a rock garden and watched that pomegranate-red skirt crumple like a fallen flower. As she lay dying, a woman in a plain white cloak wrapped her up and tucked a hot bun into her hands. "As long as your bones are strong, you'll live."

Ten years in a secluded valley, with fine rain pattering on bamboo. Lu Zhining guided her hand over the strings of a qin. "Music can unsettle the heart." As she taught her to place her pieces, her fingertips brushed Ye Suning's wrist, seemingly by chance. "A chess game is like a game of love. Make them willingly walk into your trap." As she painted, her breath grazed Ye Suning's earlobe. "Beauty is the sharpest blade." Yet when she taught her to dance, she bound her wrists with a sash. "Always leave yourself a way out, no matter who you're dealing with. Even me."

They met again at a palace banquet. One was a newly appointed female official in a simple blue robe. The other was an Imperial Noble Consort crowned with nine phoenixes, wine spilling across her phoenix-embroidered robe. Ye Suning danced the steps she'd learned all those years ago, her waist so supple that even the emperor leaned closer. "My dear subject, this dance seems familiar."

When Ye Suning sneaked into the bedchamber at night, Lu Zhining pinned her against a screen carved with dragons. Her breath was hot. "I taught you to seduce the emperor, not to throw your life away." A silver hairpin pressed against her jade-white neck. Ye Suning smiled like a flower. "You taught me too well. I even fooled you, didn't I?" But then Lu Zhining let go, allowing a brocade box full of secrets to fall to the floor. "Foolish Ning'er, I taught you how to please the world..."

"But I never taught you how to please me."

Within the red palace walls, two brilliant women rose and fell. One danced like a startled swan, maneuvering at every step. The other wore the crown of an Imperial Noble Consort and moved her pieces from the shadows. Only when the truth came out did they realize that all those years of lessons had been a lie. Only the unfinished kiss behind the screen had been real, burning hot.

"Master, why did you teach me to enchant everyone, yet never dare look me in the eye?"

"Because every time I look at you, I break my vows."

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