Title: begin again
Fandom: The Story of Yanxi Palace
Content notes: none
Challenge: Second Chances
Length: 100 words

Summary: Yinglou contemplates her rise to Empress.


Begin again. Yinglou stares at the crown on her head. Empress, now. It sends a chill down her spine.

So many people she’s been, each one slipping through her fingers like grains of sand. Daughter, maid, penitent, concubine, lady. None of them wanted. All of them chosen.

Even this one. Ten thousand battles in the harem, leading here.

Yinglou knows she doesn’t have the temperament for it; she is no mother to the country, no embodiment of feminine virtue. She’s a viper. But there is room for venom in the phoenix throne.

Softness won’t save the children, but she can.