The orb pulsed, and two portions of blue mist shot into Hong Xin and Du Ai. The woman shuddered, but Hong Xin remained unaffected.
“Is anyone else willing to serve?” Hong Xin asked. “If not, I’m sure there are customers with unique tastes who would be glad to make your unwilling acquaintance. It matters not to me either way.”
Most of them shuddered. Hong Xin proceeded to those who hadn’t first, and after a few swift, gruesome executions, the others fell in line. Their deaths would surely lead to trouble, but this was a small price to pay for stability and secrecy.
The oaths she took were nonbinding, of course, but they didn’t need to know that. Hong Xin’s heart was no longer frozen, but a hybrid between forces of kindling and dousing. Still, she personally swore to fulfill them, as she wouldn’t be herself otherwise. Minutes after swearing them in, she sent Mistress Shan and Mistress Yan to collect their close acquaintances and bring them back to the pavilion.
Hong Xin nursed a headache as she sat at a tea table in a small room. Mistress Huang, Ji Bingxue, and Bai Ling were there. Ji Bingxue served tea as they mulled over the information they’d just obtained.
Ji Bingxue was the first to speak. “Was it really necessary to oath-bind them all?” she asked. “Couldn’t we have attempted to thaw their hearts first and obtain their loyalty?”
Bai Ling snorted. “That’s all different kinds of stupid.” She was sitting at a different table in front of an Angels and Devils board. She played a fierce game with herself. “For one, they don’t have the same background as we do, so their loyalty would be limited even if we succeeded. If they decided to betray us, we wouldn’t have a backstop like an oath to limit the damage they caused.”
Ji Bingxue shook her head. “We almost had to suffer the same fate. I just can’t imagine what they’re going through.”
“I can,” Hong Xin said. She sipped on a cup of tea that Ji Bingxue had poured and nodded in approval. “I didn’t do it because I wanted to; I did it out of necessity. Mistress Huang, could you please explain?”
“Of course, Headmistress,” Mistress Huang said.
Hong Xin flinched at the mention of her title. Unfortunately, any attempt at correcting the behavior had ended in failure.
“We need to oath-bind them for the same reason that we needed to oath-bind Mistress Meng and Mistress Shan,” Mistress Huang said. “Unlike Mistress Yuan, who’d secretly been doing everything she could for the students this whole time, and who was able to thaw with barely any outside assistance, these women are cold-blooded schemers with an entire network of people in the city. They don’t just report to the pavilion—they also speak with business partners and informants. If we didn’t oath-bind them, not only would they leak out our information to others in the city, but those same people would also see it as a sign of weakness. We’re racing against time, and every second is precious.”
“But much of the news we fed them was true,” Ji Bingxue protested. “Some of the information was even conflicting. You ordered some mistresses to tell their acquaintances you were residing here, while you told others to report you were living in a safehouse. Some will report that you’re a cold-hearted, murderous, ambitious devil, while others will report that you seem unconfident, implying that Mistress Huang is controlling you in secret.”
“And this is why you’re not part of the planning department,” Bai Ling said, placing another stone on the board. “Just leave that to us. You can be our… sweet talker. The innocent-looking one who stokes ambitious youths into action.”
Ji Bingxue pursed her lips in response.
“I’m just as uncomfortable with this as you are,” Hong Xin said, shaking her head. “But it’s a necessary evil. We have seventy to eighty unbound members, many of whom have switched their allegiance to their retainers after feeling their oath dissolve. This is the single best chance we have at gaining a foothold in the city. Gaining control of all former members or eliminating particularly dangerous ones will be like walking on a tightrope. We need to suppress any dissent while telling the city we’re still open for business.”
“I still don’t like it,” Ji Bingxue said.
“None of us do,” Hong Xin replied.
“I’d like to discuss something before we get to work,” Bai Ling said, standing up from the completed Angels and Devils board and sitting beside the others. She accepted a cup of hot tea from Ji Bingxue. “It’s about you and your information on the Wang family. I want to know what it’s about.”
Hong Xin closed her eyes. She’d known the question was coming. “I have history with the second young master of the Wang family, Wang Jun,” she said. “Romantic history.”
Bai Ling groaned while Mistress Huang looked at her pensively.
“I just want to make sure everything is all right for him,” said Hong Xin. “I want to make sure he’s safe.”
Bai Ling rapped her fingers on the table. She looked Hong Xin in the eyes as though trying to peer straight into her soul. “Looking into personal things is fine,” Bai Ling said. “But we need to be clear on something: We’re not here to do favors for your ex-boyfriend, nor are we here at your whim. We’re here because we have some sisters to free and some psychopaths to put down. If, one day, I find that you’re straying from this purpose, I’m out of here. Freeing sisters is one thing, but your love life is something
