MADAM CHU EXPLAINED THAT THE DANCE we’re performing tonight is another symbolism of purification for the new year, though it seems to me more a way for the Demon King to show us off to his guests.

Over the course of the dance, each layer of our costumes is shed. Every robe we remove has to be cast off in the careful way we were taught, the fabric rippling through the air, a shining arc of gold in the lantern glow. Beneath the last layer is a thin slip that barely hides our modesty. As the best dancer of our group, Wren was chosen to have center stage during this final act to offer her last layer to the King, but in her absence Chenna was given the role. She moves gracefully across the stage, dark skin luminous under the lights. The mesmerized faces of the crowd follow her. But as she flutes out her wrist, angling her throw just right so her discarded robe settles in the lap of the King, it isn’t her he’s watching. It’s me.

Me his eyes are fixed upon, bright and dangerous.

Me he coils his lips back at in a smile that shows every one of his teeth.

Hatred pulses inside me, a dark heartbeat. I might not have a weapon anymore, but I still have my fists. During our midnight lessons, Wren’s shown me just how effective a properly angled kick to the groin can be. It won’t be enough to take down the King. But it’ll give me enough time to find the blade he always carries and turn it against him.

We leave the stage to the applause of the crowd. As soon as we’re behind the curtain, I hurry past the swarm of maids, ignoring the curious looks of the other girls as I head back into the ball, still just wearing the tiny gold slip. At least it’ll be easier to run in than that ridiculous cheongsam.

I haven’t gone far when the sound of my name makes me look round.

Aoki’s followed me. “What’s wrong?” she asks, her breath catching. “Why haven’t you changed back into your dress?” Her face is flushed from dancing, a gloss to her vivid emerald eyes. She looks radiant. Queenly.

I gather her into my arms. “I love you, Aoki,” I whisper into her ear.

She jerks back, scanning my face. “Lei? What’s going on?”

“I just want to wish the King a happy new year.”

“But—”

I kiss her forehead. While she’s still blinking in surprise, I hurry away before she spots the tears welling in my eyes.

How painful it is to say good-bye to someone who has no idea you are leaving.

The King is still on the balcony, servants fussing around him. I slow as I approach, trying to arrange my features into a calmer expression than what I’m feeling, but a jolt shoots down my spine as he sees me coming. His stare hardens. He waves the servants away. Behind him, Naja’s lip curls. General Ndeze is nearby but too busy entertaining a giggling group of courtesans to take any notice. A flash of long, glossy hair, a revealing ruqun—Zelle is a member of his doting audience. As she swings her head round midlaugh, she catches my gaze and gives an almost imperceptible nod.

“Lei-zhi,” the King greets me. Sparkling lights catch on his gilded horns.

I bow. “My King.” I force my voice steady, though it sounds strange to me, too hard and low. “I hope you enjoyed the performance, even if you have seen us undressed before you so many times already.”

Something stills in him. His smile sharpens. “Perhaps even more so,” he answers coolly. “It’s especially pleasurable to know that none of those watching have had the same privilege. Because, of course,” he adds, leaning in, “your lover isn’t here tonight, is she?”

Though my pulse skips, I furrow my brow, feigning confusion. “Forgive me, my King, but I don’t know what you mean. My only lover is right here.” And even though it sickens me to do it, I inch closer. My fingers quiver as I rest them against his chest.

Behind him, Naja starts forward. But she stops at the King’s raised hand.

“I haven’t been honest with you the nights we’ve been together, my King,” I go on quickly, keeping my eyes on his. “I’ve—I’ve been scared. I admit that I didn’t want this life at first. But after our first proper night together, my emotions have changed. My… desires.” One hand still on his chest, I bring the other to my neck and trail it down the front of my slip, lingering at my navel.

The King regards me in silence.

“Please,” I say. “May we go somewhere private? These feelings are overpowering me. I need to explore them with you, my King. Alone.”

His expression remains unmoved for a few long, torturous seconds. Finally a lazy grin stretches across his face. “I knew you’d come around, Lei-zhi.” Straightening, he circles his fingers round my arm, a fraction too tight. “We’ll go to the gardens. They will be private enough.”

He turns us toward the staircase winding down from the balcony. A few of his servants and guards hurry forward, but he waves them away.

Naja strides over, ears pricked. “My King—”

“Leave us,” he orders.

As we start down the steps, I look around and find the white fox watching us with her cool silver eyes. Even when we’re out of sight, I shiver, sensing her gaze still on me, like the hidden eyes of the moon.

The King leads me deep into the enchanted gardens. They’re wilder, more wooded than the typical Han style, knotted banyan and katsura trees forming a leafy ceiling overhead. Light from the receding hall speckles the ground. A stone path cuts through the undergrowth, the shadows all around spotted with color: the pink leaves of hibiscus flowers, cobalt-blue orchids, yellow frangipani. We follow the path to a pond crowded with water lilies. Sweet fragrance honeys the air. Each lily sparkles, a tiny star nestled at the center of its petals, and I sense the warm brush of magic like a kiss in the air.

The King looks at me. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” I say.

He hasn’t let go of me all this time. As we draw up to the water’s edge, he pulls me close, one hand cupping my chin. “It is, isn’t it?” he murmurs. He smiles, and it seems like he’s about to kiss me.

Then his lips twist into a sneer.

“A beautiful lie.”

Panic snaps through me.

I try to shift back, but his grip tethers me to the spot. “What—what do you mean?”

The words have barely left my mouth when his hands clamp around my neck. With a roar, he lifts me into the air, holding me out over the water. A group of nearby birds scatter into the night sky—and with them, my composure. With horrible choking sounds, I claw at his hand, gasp for air.

“That is what you are, Lei-zhi,” he snarls. “What did you think? That you could fool me? I am the King!”

I dig my fingernails into his hide-wrapped wrist, but it’s thicker than human skin and I can’t get purchase. Distantly, I register music drifting from the party. The scattering of notes and lilting strings is half lost under the pounding in my ears, the King’s heavy breathing.

The corded muscles in his neck tense as he squeezes my neck tighter. “What is it with you women, always spreading your legs for lesser lovers? Does it make you feel wanted? Loved? Never mind. The reason does not interest me. Only the punishment.”

“You… bastard,” I choke out.

He roars, slamming my head into the trunk of a nearby tree. The pain is instant, a crack so fierce it splits my vision.

When the King’s face appears again, spit clings to his lips, a vein throbbing in his forehead. “I brought your father and that old lynx-woman here to watch you die. You know that, yes? But a public execution would have to be at the hands of someone else.” A grin, all teeth. “This is better. Here, I can take my time. I can break every bone in your body, until the pain is so consuming you won’t even know your own name.”

He swings me round, smashing me into the tree a second time. The force makes me bite down on my tongue. Blood fills my mouth. Tears stream down my cheeks. But the pain helps sharpen my focus. Reminds me why I’m here.

Takes my hate and turns it into a blade.

I spit a wad of bloody saliva into his face. “You can kill me,” I hiss, forcing each word past his tightening grip, “but it won’t stop them. They are coming for you.”

It’s fleeting, but I see it spark across his eyes then—fear. And I comprehend now that it’s not a new emotion to him. It’s just been in hiding. All it needed was something to call it forth, to trip his mind into panic.

He stills. “You know.” A pause, then his voice rises. “Who? Tell me! Tell me who dares plot against me!”

Blood trickles down my forehead. I blink it away. “Go ahead. Kill me. I’ll never tell you.”

With a deafening bellow, he rears down and plunges me headfirst into the pond.

Choking—

Spluttering—

So cold it’s burning—

Water plugs my mouth and throat, clamps around me like a fist. I kick out, but the King holds me down. Lights burst in front of my eyes. There’s rushing in my ears and my stomach is churning and my heart is pounding, pounding, pounding—

He pulls me from the pool, and I hang from his arm, retching and coughing, teeth chattering in the iced winter air.

“Who?” he demands again. “Is it the Cat Clan? The Hannos? What are they planning?”

I sneer at him. “You’ll be dead before you know.”

This time I’m expecting it, but that doesn’t make it easier. Water rushes up my nose as the King pushes my head down. Something slimy brushes my face as it swims past. He holds me under for longer, until blackness creeps across my brain, a tempting dizziness that tries to spin me to sleep. Part of me is ready to let it take me. But the other part—the stronger part—rallies desperately against it.

This time when the King drags me out, he casts me to the ground. I skid along the grass. The earth is hard, frosted over. My fingers scrabble at the soil, trying to find purchase. Just as I push myself up, he kicks me in my middle.

I collapse, mouth wide in a silent scream. Something cracked; I felt the snap. A rib.

One more stomp and he’ll crush my heart.

Rearing over me, the King pins my arms overhead. “I’ll ask one more time, Lei-zhi.” He speaks slowly, almost calm, though his eyes are wild with fury and something else, that mad look I first saw in him the night of the koyo party and worse each time since, like he’s unraveling from within. His breaths steam in the frozen air. “If you still refuse to answer, I will go back to the ball and drag your father and lynx-woman here and kill them in front of you. Will that be enough incentive for you to speak?”

I growl, jerking underneath him, but he presses his full weight on me and it’s useless, I’m useless, I can’t win. How could I ever have thought I could win, a Paper Girl against her King? And then—

Shouting. The crunch and snap of plants underfoot.

Someone’s coming.

The King looks up.

Just in time for the knife that is whirring through the air to embed itself hilt-deep into his right eye.