Chapter 6

I stood on the bow the entire way. If anything went wrong, I planned to dive straight into the lake and escape.

Wanyan Shu seemed to see through my thoughts, and displeasure entered his voice.

“I merely enjoy swords and bows. Is that enough to make you so afraid of me?”

I hurriedly shook my head and dipped into a half curtsy before him.

“I am timid by nature and have displeased Your Highness. Please accept my apology.”

“Timid…” He chuckled, the smile stopping at the surface of his face.

“You did not seem timid when you drank yourself tipsy with the Empress. You did not seem timid just now, laughing until you shook over whatever doggerel you recited with Chen Huaiyu. Why do you become timid the moment you see me?”

What? How was I supposed to answer that?

I could hardly tell him that in my dream, he fell in love with me, but I did not return his feelings; that I accidentally injured one of his eyes, and that in his humiliation and rage, he hunted me for years before finally killing me with ten thousand arrows.

Once Wanyan Shu hated someone, he was a mad dog that would never stop until one of them was dead.

Fine sweat beaded in my palms. The noon sun made my head swim, and the jeweled boots before me moved out of sight.

An umbrella landed at my feet. Wanyan Shu ordered coldly, “Hold it properly.”

He turned back with a curved bow in his hand.

I thought he wanted shade, so I rested the umbrella against my shoulder. Instead, he pushed its rim downward, blocking my view ahead.

He drew the bow to its fullest and narrowed his eyes ominously.

“Aren’t you afraid of this thing?”

As he spoke, he loosed an arrow without warning.

I heard a burst of commotion—my sister’s scream among it.

I threw down the umbrella. Several dozen feet away, Xiao Jinhe’s guards stood before him with swords drawn. Two broken halves of an arrow floated on the lake.

Wanyan Shu had gone too far, provoking the imperial family again and again.

He glanced at me, then picked up the umbrella and held it over my head.

“No wolf permits another to trespass on its territory, especially one circling its woman.”

My brows knitted. Without giving me a chance to answer, he continued, “I know you are not my woman yet, but I am courting you. This is our time alone, and I dislike interruptions.”

Xiao Jinhe’s boat turned away. Wanyan Shu curled his lips in a sneer. “What a blight on the day.”

His eyes shifted as he glanced behind us. “Look at that one. At least he has some sense.”

I followed his gaze. Chen Huaiyu’s boat rested beneath the trailing willows. He sat on the bow with a book in hand. I could not make out his expression, but I imagined he was keeping watch for my safety.

I stared absently until Wanyan Shu’s icy voice sounded beside my ear.

“If you want to see him, we could bring the boat closer. I simply cannot say which would reach him first—the boat or my arrow.”

I snapped back to myself and met a pair of fierce, smiling eyes.