Chapter 4

A few days later, Emperor Donovan, an old friend of mine across the years, came out of a three-hundred-year seclusion.

He set his wine flask down on my table.

"Girl, guess what I just saw? That fox-spirit sister of yours has opened a relic shop on the busiest street in the Ninth Heaven."

"Word is Aiden went and begged the boy Sovereign for the spot himself, said he wanted to give it to his sweetheart as a gift. Didn't he swear to heaven and earth he only ever loved you?"

"You know as well as I do, those god-officers who commissioned relics from her were only doing it out of respect for you. Now they're all baffled. What in the world is going on?"

I took a sip of wine and answered flatly.

"Della's long been his. He couldn't bear to see his darling wronged, so he divorced me."

"From now on, Della's his problem."

Emperor Donovan froze for a moment, then swore, which was rare for him.

"Fine. This old man understands now. When you need my hand, just say the word."

Seven days later, I went as usual to drill the celestial soldiers who'd only just ascended.

When I returned to the immortal manor and pushed open the gate, a blade edged with cold light was already at my throat.

Aiden stood there gripping his sword, eyes full of fury.

"Janice, was it you, spreading it to our colleagues that Della is a woman of loose conduct who seduced her sister's husband?"

"Now none of them will commission relics from her. They cover their noses in disgust the moment they see her, call her a shameless little vixen. Do you know she nearly took her own life over it? You'd actually stoop to something this vile?"

I flicked his blade aside with my hand and said coldly, "Whether it's slander, you know perfectly well. I only spoke the truth."

Aiden clenched the sword hilt and drew a deep breath.

"At tomorrow's morning court, I want you to explain in front of everyone that you were jealous of Della, that you deliberately smeared her name, and I want you on your knees apologizing to her."

"Never. If you've got the nerve, kill me."

His chest heaved with rage, but in the end he sheathed the sword.

"You and I have stood together for years. I won't kill you. But Janice, you will regret this."

That same day, Aiden impeached me before the Heavenly Sovereign.

He said my nature was domineering and overbearing, more than he could stand, that he'd divorced me long ago back when I was in the untamed wilds, and had since fallen in love with Della.

He never imagined I'd trade on my higher spiritual power and, out of jealousy, come storming to his door and nearly kill his bride-to-be.

Not only that, he said, I'd spread rumors and dragged his fiancée's name through the mud. Such wickedness was a grave breach of the laws of heaven.

He asked the Heavenly Sovereign to cast me down to mortal life, never to ascend again.

And the Griffin army I'd poured my blood into training would lose its name too, from now on answering to him alone.

To the Heavenly Sovereign, Aiden was the God of War of the Ninth Heaven, and I was nothing but his subordinate, the kind of deputy general found in every camp.

Naturally he favored his high minister, and granted the request.

He decreed that in three days I would go to the Execution Terrace to have my immortal bones stripped, then be cast down as a mortal.

Shaking all over with rage, I went to find Aiden.

"The two of you were carrying on behind my back first. I never did any of the things you said. You're framing your own comrade! You're the one breaking the laws of heaven!"

Aiden looked at me, unbothered.

"But you have no proof, do you? Even gods aren't all-powerful. Even Emperor Donovan, whose standing runs deeper than the Sovereign's, can't turn time back or bring it forward again."

He wiped the blood from my cheek and said gently, "Three days from now is also the day of my wedding to Della. Apologize to her before then and restore her name, and I'll plead with the Sovereign for you. Your post stays as it is."

"Jan, a woman immortal who wants to enter the camps and hold her ground in a world of men, how much bitterness she has to swallow, how many wounds she has to take, we both know. And none of that is even a ten-thousandth of the pain of having your immortal bones stripped."

"You clawed your way to where you are, the only female general in the Ninth Heaven. Don't throw away everything you suffered for, all over a fit of temper. Hm?"

Words that sounded like they were spoken for my sake, and yet they sent cold seeping into the marrow of my bones.

Never in my dreams could I have imagined that the comrade, the lover I'd once given my whole heart to, could be this shameless.

Once I'd cooled down, I reached Emperor Donovan through the water mirror.

"Old man, that secret you told me the other day, was it real?"

When he confirmed it, my mouth curved up.

"The time has come for you to step in."

Three days came soon enough.

Aiden held his grand wedding to Della at the new immortal manor, with the whole court of civil and martial gods invited, even the Heavenly Sovereign there to witness it.

When I appeared, both of them were stunned.

Della spoke up nervously, "Sis... Janice, are you here to ruin our wedding? I don't want to see you. Get out..."

Aiden shielded her behind him and glared at me, hard.

"Janice, at this hour you should be at the Execution Terrace having your immortal bones stripped. Why are you here? Are you defying the decree, or trying to start a rebellion?"

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the Heavenly Sovereign's face darkening, and Aiden's hand sliding, quiet and easy, toward his life-bound sword.

Smiling, I tucked a strand of hair back.

"Listen to the great God of War. I'm the most law-abiding god-officer in all of heaven."

"I came to tell you this. You want me to apologize in public? Keep dreaming."

I raised my hand and pointed at the gate, biting off each word.

"Aiden, didn't you say before that I had no proof?"

"Then open your dog eyes and look. The proof is here."

As the words fell, every face in the hall went slack with shock.