A Secret Dinner Deep in the Desert

My name is Ling Yi, the ninth prince of this desert kingdom. When I was ten, my mother the queen passed away from illness. I was a forgotten cub on the fringes of power, and I switched identities with Helan Zhao—a slave boy I'd picked up from the streets. From then on, he became the high and mighty prince, and I became his most lowly attendant, Liu Chi. Over a decade has passed since then. The once scrawny slave has been nourished by wealth and privilege into a tall, commanding figure, his hands calloused and hardened from years of martial training. And before him, I, too, have gradually revealed the secret dependence buried deep in my bones—between us, we sustain a dangerous, twisted balance that only the two of us could ever understand.