There is an apparent need for daggers in pockets at the dinner table and poison darts strapped under joints at the supposed public baths. The only public exposure I get is when the servants greet me. See, it’s considered public exposure because somewhere in their ancestry, there are people who have been outside the walls of the Forbidden Palace. It is not that I do not appreciate quiet life. On the contrary, I take it as a gift from the heavens. I detest having to be around people. Especially overly happy half-sisters. Especially overly sullen half-sisters. Especially overly alpha twin brothers.

“Tao, hunting?” Taeyeon strides past me, asking only out of courtesy.

“No.” the answer is the same.

Taeyeon is extremely accommodating to Mi Young. It is believed that she is the actual princess of the legends. And not Taeyeon, who doesn’t appreciate long flowing things at her hips. It isn’t that I dislike Mi Young. I just cannot stand the happiness in which she takes life. She is strikingly beautiful, whether to human eye or to mine. I will be announced her twin in our official coronations during our seventeenth birthday, this year, where in great pretence we will say we are quadruplets born on the same day. Mi Young and Taeyeon are my half-sisters, born in the fall. I was born in the spring, with my twin.

“You could be more willing to participate in activities.” Wu Yi Fan folds his arms as he appears in front of me, watching the happy twins move off for the forests.

“You could bother me less, Kris.” I turn with a light scowl. My twin brother never has understood the importance of deciding not to care about the prophecies and carrying on with life. He’s christened himself Kris Wu.

“I cannot.” His fingers touch my jaw in a hostile action, and I shrink back. Not out of fear. We are as strong as each other, only weaker in this mortal world when compared to our half-sisters. He has an alpha personality that I cannot deny. I have read books and scriptures on the human mind. Yet I cannot force myself to disagree with his reason.

“I will go hunting with them, if I must.” I nod my head low.

He isn’t completely stupid or juvenile. “Thank you.”

Still, I will not hesitate to kill him. It’s in my blood.

Thunder overhead. Loud claps. Mi Young is already in her chambers with a sulk. My ears are sensitive that much. Kris shrugs in abandon. He cares well for Mi Young but not excessively. He thinks it appropriate to maintain distance to ensure that he does not encroach on extra territory. He submits himself completely to the prophecy and apparently he admires her lack of femininity.

 In my palm, I feel the entire sphere of the planet moving. I hold still the water in the air, drawing moisture from within and gravel it together before dropping hail. And all with five fingers that just need a little flexing. I turn and head for my bed chamber. I can tell Wu Fan wants to start a forest fire. He chains the thought behind bars.

“You just killed a fox.” Taeyeon informs me with a very silent whisper. Sometimes, even though I hate company, her concerned sarcasm, there to entertain me and soothe my angst, is thanked for.

“Great, I hate foxes.” I mutter with a small smile.

I sense vibrations in the air. All four of us stand. A large bell announces the preceding information. It is really unnecessary. A pin drop would suffice, honestly.

“Your coronation takes place in three weeks exactly. There will be a friendly duel between males and a friendly show of skills between females. You will address your people and then the official lockdown begins.” It’s an old man telling us this as usual. We don’t know where he is. Perhaps in the well in the centre of the entire palace. Perhaps in the large tree we don’t go near.

I do love, however, how we stresses on ‘friendly’ and ‘will’. And then I notice somewhere in the back of my mind that I don’t understand what he means by lockdown.

“Lockdown?” for once Kris is off his feet. From his usual balance of knowing every thing there is to know about our past people, to being unsure of this event.

“You will see.”

I see nothing, honestly, but any lockdown doesn’t seem to make differences in my existence. A lockdown is just one more door in the way. Amazingly, however hard I’ve tried, I haven’t gotten out of the palace. Not without waking up from a blackout minutes later.

An arrow zips close to me. It moves in slow motion towards my face before I easily slip aside and catch it lengthwise in my grip. This means war. There will be no friendly matches. We were born to kill and dear heavens, the girls have the advantages. Suddenly Taeyeon doesn’t seem like such a fitting sister or mate. Not after her hand is raised in protection of her own sister first before anyone else. I understand their bond. No matter how much I detest the ways of Wu Yi Fan, I’ll kill the females before him.

Doesn’t mean I won’t finish him off.

“Depends if you can.”

Oh, let the games begin.