Chapter 11 · Survival Menu - Chapter 11: A Dead Woman's Confession

The boots stopped right outside the ice cellar door.

I froze. My breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat. Yan Xiao's hand was still on my wrist from when he'd dragged me down here, and I felt his fingers tighten. Not rough. Just enough to say don't move.

The voices were muffled through the wood, but I caught fragments. "—checked the east wing already—" "—Third Prince said to sweep the kitchens again—" My pulse kicked. They were looking for me. Or looking for someone. Same difference when you're the girl who just spilled poison in front of the Dowager and half the inner court.

"Stay quiet," Yan whispered. His mouth was so close to my ear I felt the shape of the words more than heard them. I wanted to shove him off. I didn't.

The cellar was cramped. Shelves of preserved vegetables and salted meat pressed in on both sides, and the air smelled like brine and cold stone. Yan had pulled me in here the second we'd cleared the Dowager's courtyard, and I'd been too busy not throwing up from nerves to ask why. Now I was regretting that.

He shifted. His shoulder brushed mine.