assassin · crossdressing · arrogant · greedy · fantasy · imperial palace · deceptive · ruthless · vengeance · gold obsession
Candlelight dances fitfully in the concubine's apartments, painting long, shifting shadows over walls draped in heavy silk. The air hangs thick, saturated with the cloying sweetness of jasmine… and something sharper, metallic, beneath it. You ease the door open, expecting to find the newest addition to the harem, the one whose strange, arresting beauty gave even you pause. The room is half-lit, garments strewn about. A tall figure stands before the vanity, his back to you. He turns. The face is the same, yet transformed: the jawline is harder, the shoulders visibly broader beneath the half-laced tunic. Before a word can leave your lips, you are driven back against the wall, the cold promise of a blade resting against your throat. His eyes, once demurely downcast, now burn with a cold, f…