Haia cursed under her breath. What the hell was the Empress doing in her room again? Could it be about what she had stolen…no, it couldn’t be. She didn’t know that Haia was the Silver Serpent. Then again, she did have spies. But how could she have known?

“Haia, dearest. Come, sit down. We have much to talk about. I took the responsibility of warming up some tea for you while you were gone. Here, drink,” the Empress said with a venomously sweet smile, reaching out her hand to give Haia the rounded cup of tea.

Haia knocked the steaming hot tea from her hand and slid a blade to Mai’s throat. “What do you want?”

Mai merely clicked her tongue. “What happened to ‘hello?’ ‘How are you?’ Are you so uncivil now that you’ve dispensed with basic decency and instead welcome your guests with a dagger to the throat?”

The thief was losing patience. She snarled, digging the blade a little harder into the Empress’s skin, drawing a steady trickle of blood. “Answer me!”

Mai grinned vilely. “Alright, little thief. I’ll answer you,” she said. Then, her voice changed, no longer sickly sweet. “I know you’re the one who took my Blood Pearls. I’ll ask nicely. Return them to me, and we can pretend like this encounter never happened.”

Haia forced her face into an expression of ignorance though her heart nearly hammered through her ribcage. How had she known?

“Your precious Blood Pearls have been stolen? Wow, your Golden Guards must really be incompetent. I assure you, I have nothing to do with them. I’m just returning from a little weapons raid in the Underground. I’m sure you don’t care about that, do you?”

Mai smiled at Haia in the same way a snake widens its mouth, revealing its fangs, before devouring its prey. She let out a flighty little laugh.

“Oh, Haia! I know it was you. Who else would have been skilled enough to pull off such an escape?” she chuckled, cupping the thief’s cheek.

Haia slapped the Empress’s hand away, digging the dagger deeper into Mai’s neck.

“You can waste your time believing that while the real thief is out there running free.” Haia rolled her eyes, hoping it looked convincing.

“Stop pretending, dear. Don’t you remember? I know who you are,” the Empress scoffed

“Sure you do. I’m the daughter of your favorite guard. The one you murdered,” Haia snarled.

As quickly as Haia had drawn the blade, the Empress just as swiftly disarmed the thief and pinned her onto the hard, dusty floor.

“You, little rat!” the Empress hissed, her eyes bulging in boiling anger. Haia had known she wouldn’t like to hear that particular comment. It drove a knife deeper into an old wound every time she brought it up.

Haia scrunched her nose upon seeing the Empress’s rage-contorted face. “You know, these days, you’re not as pretty as everyone claims, Mai. And to think you thought your looks would charm my father once. Certainly, age hasn’t done you any favors either.”

“Silence!”

The thief rolled her eyes. She hated Mai with all her guts, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t used to the endless taunts. She knew Mai wouldn’t kill her for her insolence, not when she could still use her. Use her like she had countless other times to dispose of nobles she didn’t care for or to empty another’s coffers when he refused to do her bidding. Haia hated every second of her life that she had worked for the Empress. But the Empress always knew which buttons to push when she needed something done, and Haia’s button was one she was always ready to trigger.

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That was why the thief had been so careful about her latest venture. Yet here the Empress was in her apartment, somehow privy to the truth.

“Okay, zipping my lips, Mai. What is it your royal pain wants this time?” Haia said, continuing to mock the Empress because that was all she could do from this position to assert that she would not go down without a fight.

After a moment of angry silence, the Empress released her, barking for the thief to stand up. Once Haia had brushed herself off, she looked Mai square in the eye with spiteful hatred.

“What I want, dearest Haia, is for you to return what’s mine,” she whispered threateningly.

Haia smirked. “I don’t have anything of yours, dear Empress.”

Mai only narrowed her eyes further. “Empty your pack.”

Haia did as she was told, turning her bag upside down to reveal her crumpled cloak, plans of the palace whose ink was smudged from water damage so badly it was beyond recognition, and a spare set of shurikens. When the contents finished spilling, Haia looked at Mai daringly.

“See? I told you, I don’t have anything— OW!”

Before Haia could react, the Empress was on her, her own navy blue cloak swishing so fast that it had whipped Haia’s face. Mai searched through all of Haia’s pockets, ripping off the weapon belt in the process, metal clattering to the ground in disharmony.

“MAI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Haia screeched.

Just as quickly as the Empress had searched Haia, she also released her, fury painting her pale skin red.

“WHERE IS IT, YOU LITTLE BITCH? TELL ME!” the Empress roared.

Now, it was Haia’s turn to be angry. “I. TOLD. YOU. I. DON’T. HAVE. IT!”

The pair glowered at each other for a good minute before Mai finally backed down. “Fine. Have it your way, thief.”

To anyone else, it would have sounded like the Empress was giving up, but Haia knew better. Haia knew that this was only the start of the storm, and that Mai choosing to kill her would be far more of a mercy than whatever she had planned behind those cold, calculating eyes.

“What’s the catch this time?” Haia dared to ask as the Empress approached the only window in the room looking out at the wall of the next building.

The Empress turned slowly, an evil smirk playing at her thin lips. Her long, untied hair whipped around her as she turned to Haia and said, “Oh, you know me so well, Haia dearest. You know what the catch is. It’s the same as always. Your special, let’s say.”

As soon as the words came out of Mai’s mouth, Haia knew exactly what she meant. The blood drained from her face and her skin chilled, goosebumps marking every inch of her body.

“No, Mai. Please, don’t. I promise. I don’t have the Blood Pearls. I swear,” Haia said, her voice tinged with the slightest bit of pleading despite her earnest effort to conceal her roller coaster of emotions.

The Empress simply raised an eyebrow. “Mai? How unbecoming of a peasant like you. Address me as I am. It’s ‘your Majesty’ to you. And, kneel while you’re at it.”

Haia refused to kneel, but she said, “Please, your Majesty. Don’t do this. I don’t have the Blood Pearls.”

Mai turned around, her boots clicking as she stood in front of Haia. “I said, kneel.”

Haia looked down to the ground, dropping to her knees. She tried to shut down the voice in her mind telling her to reveal the truth, to give the Empress what she wanted. To stop provoking her.

But Haia had grown tired of being the Empress’s part-time puppet. She would not, could not cower in fear any longer. Not when she was so close to her goal.

Taking a deep breath, the thief said one more time, “Please. Please don’t—”

Mai’s slender fingers reached down to pull Haia’s chin up so that their gazes were locked. She wanted to see the wretched girl suffer for all she had done. “Please what? Don’t do what? Say it, thief.”

Haia gulped, her eyes betraying the fear that was growing by the minute inside of her. She knew Mai could see it too because the Empress was practically leering with triumph now.

“Please, don’t kill Kenji. Leave him alone,” Haia begged, her voice cracking.

Mai finally released her, moving towards the door. “Oh, I won’t. Why would I waste such a wonderful asset who bends you to my will whenever I need it? No, I won’t kill your dear brother Kenji. So long as you return the Blood Pearls to me by the end of the week instead of selling it to whichever shady Mage made a deal with you. I hope you think on it, thief. What will it be this time? The purse that’s only worth half of my precious Pearls? Or your brother’s life?”

And with that, Empress Mai swished out of the door, slamming it behind her as Haia collapsed to the ground in stunned silence, her eyes too dry to even shed tears.