Sasha McGlynn

sure you don’t. In that case...” He took a half breath, and then he said something unimaginable. “Perhaps you’d be interested in asking the Emperor’s younger brother to plant his seed in your belly.”

Finally he managed, “Now listen to me, y—I mean, Maomao! Listen close! I am going to make you my wife!”

Abruptly, she found herself thinking about a cheerful young woman who had loved insects. A young woman who had vanished into the snow and never been found. Maomao occasionally peeked into the shops, wondering if one day she might stumble upon the hair stick she’d given that girl.